JONAH AND THE BIG FISH
This story is found in the book of Jonah Chapters 1 - 3
There once was a man named Jonah. One day God sent a message to him: “Go to the city of Nineveh. Tell them, ‘I am going to destry you, because of your wickedness’.” The people in the city of Nineveh were very bad. There was robbing, violence, crime, eating, and drinkin everywhere one might look.
But Jonah was afraid to go and ran away from the Lord. He ran to the seacoast to the port of Joppa where he found a ship leaving for Tarshish. He bought a ticket and went on board.
As the ship was sailing along, the Lord caused a great storm that threatened to send them to the bottom. Fearing what God was doing, Jonah told the crew he was running away from the Lord.
The storm kept getting worse. Jonah begged them to throw him out to sea. Eventually, the men picked up Jonah and threw him into the raging seas -- and the storm stopped.
Now the Lord had arranged for a great fish to swallow Jonah. Jonah was inside the fish for three days and three nights.
Jonah prayed to the Lord from inside the fish. He thanked God for being a part of his life and for providing for his rescue. “I will never again worship anyone but you,” he said. Then the Lord ordered the fish to spit up Jonah on to the beach, and it did.
Then the Lord spoke to Jonah again, “Go to that great city of Nineveh and warn them of their doom, as I told you before!”
So Jonah obeyed. He told everyone in the city - “Forty days from now Nineveh will be destroyed.” And the people believed him; from the king on down--they stopped eating and drinking; turned from their evil ways of robbing and violence; and began to pray.
God changed his mind because He saw the people had stopped their evil ways. He did not destroy the people of Nineveh or their city as he originally said He would.