You can read from a Children’s Bible, your Bible or use the following story.
Jonah
Jonah 1:1-3:10
Jonah was a prophet of God and one day God said to Jonah, "I want you to go to Nineveh and tell its people to follow Me. Tell them to stop doing bad things."
Nineveh was a really sinful town, and Jonah thought he and his people were better than the bullies of Nineveh. Jonah did not want to help these people, so instead of obeying God, he bought a ticket and got on a boat that was going to Tarshish and sailed away.
God sent a big storm out to the sea to stop Jonah. Waves pounded the ship and rocked it back and forth. "Help us!" the sailors were afraid and begged their false gods, but nothing happened. And they threw the cargo into the sea to lighten the ship.
Jonah had gone below deck, and fell into a deep sleep. The captain went to him and said, "How can you sleep? Get up and call on your God! Maybe he will take notice of us so that we will not die."
"It's my fault," Jonah admitted. "God is angry. Pick me up and throw me into the sea," he replied, "and the sea will calm down." I know it's my fault that this great storm has come upon you." Instead, the men did their best to row back to land. But they could not, for sea grew even wilder than before. Then they took Jonah and threw him overboard, and the raging sea grew calm and went away.
Then God provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah. There inside the fish, Jonah told God he was sorry, and he praised God for saving his life. "Some people turn from You and worship false gods," he said, "but not me. I promise to sing praises to You because I know that You are the only One who can save me." Jonah was trapped inside the fish for three days. After three days God commanded the fish to let Jonah out. The fish obeyed God, and it threw up and spit Jonah out onto dry land.
Jonah knew that running away from what God wanted him to do was wrong. After the big fish spit him out, he decided to go and tell the people of Nineveh that their city would be destroyed in four days if they didn't turn to God. The people listened to Jonah and believed. They repented, feeling sad about all the bad things they had done and told God they were sorry. So God did not destroy Nineveh. He also taught Jonah to listen and obey Him the first time he asks. We also need to listen and obey God the first time He asks us to do something.
Bible Story Questions & Answers
Talk about what the Bible story was about by asking the children questions. You can decide ahead of time how you want them to answer the questions. I like to have the children raise their hand to answer the question. If they are incorrect that is fine. You can say what the answer is or ask: “Does anyone else have a thought or answer to the question?”
Questions to ask if you like:
• Where did God ask Jonah to go? (Nineveh)
• In the town of Nineveh were people making good choices and following God, or were they making bad choices and not following God? (Bad choices and not following God)
• Was Jonah asked by God to help the people of Nineveh by telling them to stop making bad choices and to follow God? (Yes)
• Did Jonah help the people of Nineveh right away or did he try to run away from God? (He tried to run away from God)
• What town did Jonah try to go to? (Tarshish)
• What did Jonah get onto to take him to Tarshish? (A boat)
• What did God send to make the passangers on the boat think it was going to sink? (A storm)
• What did Jonah tell the people on the boat to do so that the storm would stop? (Throw him overboard)
• What came and swallowed up Jonah? (A big fish)
• How long was Jonah inside the fish? (Three days)
• After Jonah was spit out of the fish did he go to the city of Nineveh like God had asked him to do? (Yes)
• Did the people stop doing bad things and choose to follow God? (Yes)
• Should we listen and obey God? (Yes)
I think that it is hard for children to understand how they can listen and obey God when he is not someone that is right here that we can see. It's easy to say yes to that last question, but how would they go about doing it? This is a good time to talk about it. You can say, "When we read the Bible God and Jesus talk about how to love others, be kind and be helpful to others, and that is how we can listen and obey them. In this story we learned about how Jonah did not listen and obey at first and then in the end he did. Do you think we should listen and obey God the first time? (Yes) And we can do that by reading the stories on the Bible."
Prayer
While sitting on the floor with criss cross legs, have the children repeat after you. You can have them fold their hands and close their eyes or just sit quietly and say after you. Following is a prayer written out that you can use, or you can make up your own.
Dear God (children repeat)
Thank you for this day. (children repeat)
Please help me (children repeat)
to listen and obey you. (children repeat)
Please help me (children repeat)
to make good choices. (children repeat)
I love You (children repeat)
Amen (children repeat)
