For Kids · 4 min with a grown-up
You'd think Jonah would be thrilled the city was saved — but he's actually angry. And God teaches him a gentle, important lesson about love.
Today's Story
Here's a surprise: when God forgave Nineveh, Jonah got ANGRY! “I knew it!” Jonah grumbled to God. “I knew You were so kind and merciful and full of love that You'd forgive them. That's why I ran away in the first place! These were my enemies — I didn't want them forgiven!”
Jonah stomped off, sat down outside the city in the hot sun, and sulked. So God gently taught him a lesson. God made a leafy plant grow up fast to give Jonah cool shade, and Jonah was happy about the plant. But the next day, God sent a little worm to nibble the plant, and it withered. Then the sun blazed hot, and Jonah was miserable. “I'm so upset about my plant!” he complained.
And God asked Jonah the question the whole book had been leading to: “Jonah, you cared about one little plant that you didn't even grow. Shouldn't I care about this whole great city — more than a hundred thousand people, plus all the animals — who don't even know their right hand from their left? Shouldn't I have pity on them?”
God's love is bigger than Jonah's. God cares about EVERYONE — even people we think of as enemies, even people who seem far from Him. God wants ALL people to come home to Him.
A Big Word
Memory Verse
Talk About It
- Jonah was angry that his enemies got forgiven. Is it ever hard to want good things for people we don't like?
- God cared more about a whole city of people than Jonah cared about a plant. Who is someone you find hard to love that God loves?
- God's love is bigger than ours. How can we ask God to make our love bigger, like His?