Jonah
4 has had me pondering a simple question, “Why was Jonah so angry?”
Remember that the reluctant prophet went to Nineveh and warned the
people that judgment was coming. The wicked nation and its king
repented. A total success! When God saw their change, He spared
them, “But to Jonah this seemed
very wrong, and he became angry… That is what I tried to forestall…
I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger
and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity“.
Jonah was mad at God for being merciful to people Jonah did not
think deserved it. He was so despondent that he said, “Take
away my life“; Jonah would
rather die than see the Ninehvites saved. There is a human quality
that makes us enjoy seeing those that have wronged us suffer. A
better question might be, “who was harmed by Jonah’s anger?”
Bitterness has no impact on the object of our anger, but it destroys
us from the inside. God asks, “Is
it right for
you to be angry?”
Jonah
was so hopeful that the city would be destroyed, that after doing his
preaching, he “sat down at a
place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its
shade and waited to see what would happen to the city“.
Clearly Jonah was hoping for a front-row seat for the fire and
brimstone show. Every time I find myself rooting for well deserve
punishment for an offender, I recall 1 Corinthians 6:11. After
listing all sorts of rotten behavior that will prevent people from
inheriting salvation, the apostle reminds his friends, “And
that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were
sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and by the Spirit of our God“.
I wonder how many have waited to see me get what I deserved?
The
chapter and the book end with a picture to help Jonah understand
God’s perspective. While Jonah waited for the destruction to come,
“God
provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade
for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about
the plant“.
Shade in the desert is wonderful thing. The story continues, “The
next day
God
provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered“.
Instead of relief, “the
sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint“.
Once again Jonah was furious. God asked a second question of Jonah;
“Is
it right for you to be angry about the plant?”
God explains that this plant grew in a night and died in a night,
yet Jonah had more concern for this plant than the people of Nineveh.
God asks a final question, “Should
I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are
more than a hundred and twenty thousand people“.
Friend, have you been allowing anger to eat up your joy? There is a
message taught to the follower of Christ that transformed the world.
It is repeated in Romans chapter 12, “Bless
those who persecute you; bless and do not curse… Do not repay
anyone evil for evil… If your enemy is hungry, feed him; if
he is thirsty, give him something to drink.
In
doing this, you will heap burning coals on his head“.
The
message of the cross for each of us is this; “Do
not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good“.
Is
it time to replace anger with mercy?