Jonah & the Relentless Love of God: Week 3

Discussion Questions

1. Today is the third week of our sermon series on the book of Jonah. At the start of chapter 2, we find Jonah in the belly of the “big fish.” How familiar are you with what happens next? I encourage you to read, or reread, Jonah chapter 2 before continuing with these questions. 

2. Jonah is at the lowest point of his life, and from these terrible conditions he cries out to the Lord. Most of this chapter is Jonah’s prayer about his current circumstances and how it will only be by the grace of God that he will ever escape. Do you have a moment in your life that you would call your “low point?” If so, how did you act when you hit rock bottom?  

3. In this chapter Jonah begins to realize what God has been doing. God has brought Jonah to this place of crying out to Him, not because God doesn’t care, but precisely because of how much God does care. Have you ever had a moment in life where you were utterly helpless and needed to cry out to someone else for help? What was it like to fully need someone else? 

4. It’s not God’s ultimate priority to make His people comfortable and happy. What God is actually focused on is calling a people to Himself, molding and shaping their character, so that they come to understand the truth of who they are as creatures made in the image of their creator and come to discover the truth that they are not God. This looks vastly different than a God who just wants you to be “happy.” How have you experienced God molding and shaping your character over the years? Is He currently working on anything?