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LIFE GROUP DISCUSSION GUIDE
Wednesday Night, February 14, 2007
“Running Away From God”
5 Minutes - Welcome / Prayer
5 Minutes - OPEN
Describe a recent situation or a conflict in your life when everything within you desired to run away as far as you could to avoid dealing with such. In your life, have you noted some commonality to those situations to which you wanted to flee?
( ) Relational Conflict ( ) Defeat / Failure
( ) Workplace Conflict ( ) Despair
( ) Burnout ( ) Rejection
( ) Other:
What are the negative emotions that are associated with these moments?
15 Minutes - DIG
In considering the story of Jonah where God calls him to go and preach to the wicked people in Ninevah, it is easy to see how Jonah ran from God (Jonah 1:1-3).
When you are going through a stressful time in your life and you’re inclined to run from such, where is God in this? Have you come to the place where you see God intricately woven into the affairs of your life?
If our faith calls for a belief that God is omniscient (knowing all things); omnipotent (all-powerful); and omnipresent (present in all place at the same time), how do you reconcile His silence when bad things happen in our lives?
Do you ever feel that God is not paying enough attention to you (Job 7:17-19; Ps. 139:7-10)?
Jonah ran in the complete opposite direction to where God was calling him to go – he fled to Tarshish. What does Tarshish represent in our lives?
Worse than just fleeing from God, Jonah’s problem was that he couldn’t live with God’s request on his life. Jonah wanted something different than what God wanted. So he took off and decided to live like God didn’t exist.
Why is this so dangerous?
15 Minutes - REFLECT
Jonah knew something about the character of God and how He desired the restoration of the Ninevites . . . and that was not what he desired.
Sometime we want to be God – we run from God to be free to do things our way.
How can we test ourselves to know that we are not living with this arrogance?
Once we own up to our own selfish motivations and distorted thinking, what steps must we take to humble ourselves and surrender our lives to the Lord?
5 Minutes - CLOSING PRAYER
So, for what should we pray tonight?
In what way(s) have you been convicted?
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