August 9 – 15 Family Devotions
Part 2
This comes from Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s book Children of God Storybook Bible
Week of August 9 – 15
Theme: GOD LOVES EVERYONE, EVEN OUR ENEMIES (Jonah 1-4)
Read:
“Go to Nineveh,” God said to Jonah. “Tell the people there that if they do not stop their cruelty, I will destroy the city.”
Jonah hated the people of Nineveh because they were enemies. He did not want them to be saved, so he jumped aboard a boat sailing for a faraway country. But God sent a storm. Huge waves crashed over the boat, and it was about to sink. Jonah knew it was because he was trying to run from God. He told the others to throw him overboard so the storm would stop.
Down he plunged into the cold, dark water. Jonah was about to drown when God sent a huge fish to swallow him up.
From deep inside the fish, Jonah thanked God for saving him.
The fish burped Jonah out onto the beach.
“Go to Nineveh,” God said again. This time Jonah went, and the people listened to him. They asked for forgiveness, and God did
not destroy them.
Jonah sat under a shady vine and said, “God, the Ninevites are our enemies! How could you save them?”
God replied, “They are your enemies, but they are my children too.”
I say to all who will listen to me:
Love your enemies. Be kind to those who hate you.
—Luke 6.27
