STUDY QUESTIONS FOR GROUPS
By Micah Odor
1. What bothers you more—when bad things happen to good people or when good things happen to bad people?
2. What was your “I will . . .” statement last week, and how did you follow through?
Ask two people to read aloud Jonah 3:10–4:11 one after the other, preferably from different Bible versions. Then ask the same two people to each read Joel 2:18-27. Then, as a group, quickly paraphrase God’s promises in Joel and the story in Jonah.
3. What adjectives would you use to describe God in these two passages?
• What adjectives would you use to describe Jonah?
4. Jonah 1:17 says, “the Lord provided a huge fish to swallow Jonah.” Look again at Jonah 4:1-11. What do you learn about God’s provision for Jonah?
5. What similarities do you see between how God treated Nineveh in Jonah 4 and Israel in Joel 2?
6. In Jonah 4:2-3, Jonah was upset that God gave Nineveh the same chances for repentance that Israel received. In what ways can you empathize with Jonah here? (Or is his behavior too far out of line?)
7. What do you learn about God and yourself from Jonah 4:10-11?
8. In Joel 2:25, God promised to “repay [or redeem] the years the locusts have eaten.” The locusts represented not just insects eating crops but also a scavenging foreign army. It must have felt like a trauma that could never be healed. Yet God’s promise came true. When has God redeemed something in your life that you thought was forever broken or lost?
• What do you hope he might yet redeem?
9. What trait or attribute of God did you need to be reminded of this week?
10. Based on what we’ve discussed, what are you doing well?
11. Based on what we’ve discussed, what could you do differently in obeying God this week?
12. Who needs to hear this story, and how will you tell them?
13. Based on our study and discussion, complete this sentence: “This week, I will . . .”
For Next Week: Read and reflect on Joel 2:28-32 and Obadiah 1:15-17 as we continue our study of the Early Minor Prophets. You can also read next week’s supplemental texts as well as the Study and Application sections as part of your personal study.
Author: Christian Standard
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