God’s Ways
• 1 min. read • grade level: 4
JON 4:6-86And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 8And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. (Jonah 4:6‑8)
The Lord God prepared a gourd . . . a worm . . . a vehement east wind.
Jonah 4:6-86And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. 7But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. 8And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live. (Jonah 4:6‑8)
Jonah had run away from God and God sent a violent storm at sea to get his attention. Now Jonah’s mission was done and he was sulking because the city he preached to had repented and turned to God and God had spared the judgment that He was going to send on the city. This bothered Jonah, and so God again introduced various things into Jonah’s life to try and teach him that God’s ways are not our ways. He does things sometimes that to us don’t make sense. Don’t try to second guess God. Just trust Him and be obedient. Jonah was a very unhappy man. Learn from Jonah.