Jonah Is Angry With God
Shared on November 17, 2024
God’s work is a righteous work and we should never question nor doubt His work, right? We certainly should not grow angry with God, right? Watch this week’s lesson as we take a look a look at a very angry Jonah and an important question that God asks him.
Introduction
God’s work is righteous. The last thing you should ever do is question and second guess God’s work. Even worse is for you to cast judgment on God’s work. In our lesson this week, we are going to see Jonah do those things in his anger towards God. On the other side of this, we will see God make His pitch towards His angry prophet to enlighten and take away Jonah’s anger.
Jonah’s Anger At God
We must come into this week’s lesson remembering that Jonah hated the Assyrians of Nineveh. Why? Because he likely had loved one harmed or even lost at the hands of the Assyrians. When God initially tasked Jonah with preaching in Nineveh, he ran because he wanted nothing to do with them. What we’ll see in our lesson this week is that Jonah’s anger had caused him to wish the worst that we can ever wish against someone.
Our lesson opens with scripture telling us that it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry (Jon. 4:1). What was it that displeased Jonah? If we look back to Jonah 3:5-10, the people of Nineveh repented of their wrongs and turned to the Lord. Rather than bringing disaster upon Nineveh, the Lord relented.
So, Jonah was angry for one main reason – the people turned to God and was saved. Think about this for a moment: Jonah, a prophet of God, was angry that people were saved. When someone comes to God, that is a moment for rejoicing. Yet, Jonah could not rejoice because the people that were saved were his enemies.
What’s even more dark about this thought is the thought that Jonah might have wished disaster to come upon the people of Nineveh! Does that sound like the godly thing to do? Should you wish disaster to come upon those who you despise and hate? We should certainly watch ourselves when it comes to having such thoughts because such thoughts give way to sinful actions.
Jonah’s Angry Prayer to God
In his anger, Jonah prayed to the lord, saying, “was not this what I said when I was still in my country (Jon. 4:2)? The statement here, again, suggests that Jonah did not want the people of Nineveh to hear God’ word. Why didn’t he want them to hear God’s word? He hated them and did not want them to have the opportunity to be saved.
This thought is further cemented when Jonah says in his prayer, “for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm (Jon. 4:2).” Again, Jonah’s own word implies that he’d much rather have seen the people of Nineveh suffer rather than receive God’s mercy.
Clearly, by his word, Jonah understood what we should know about the Lord ourselves. Jonah knew that God was a loving and merciful God. Jonah learned this first hand after how merciful God was towards Israel before Israel was finally judged of its sin.
Something we should know is that as God is merciful towards us, He is also merciful towards all of those around us as well. Yes, God is a God of second chances and He will offer mercy even towards those we don’t expect. We aren’t the judge, jury, and executioner when it comes to the lives of all of those around us! God has the final say!
Still angry, Jonah prays for God to take his life. Jonah said, “it is better for me to die than to live (Jon. 4:3).” This is scary, right? You have to take great care to not let anger and hate overtake you. Jonah’s hate for the Assyrians really took a hold of him and his thoughts are becoming more and more dark.
It is such thoughts that Satan will enter and try to make a home within you. Was this what was happening with Jonah? Sin was certainly at the door for Jonah as his first sin was to flee from the Lord and think that he could hide. His next sin is be so moved by hate that his words, expressing his thoughts, was to desire that the people of Nineveh not be offered mercy from the Lord.
God’s Response to Jonah
So, the Lord responds to Jonah’s angry prayer. God asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry (Jon. 4:4)?” Is it ever right for us to be angry with God and how He moves?
Is it right to be mad at God?
This question puts me in mind of what the Lord said through the prophet Isaiah in Isaiah 45:9. The Lord said, “Woe to him who strives with his Maker … Shall the clay say to him who forms it, ‘What are you making?” How can man turn and question what God is doing like he has some kind of authority over God when God made him?
Then, through the prophet Jeremiah, the Lord said to Israel, “can I not do with you as this potter? Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel (Jer. 18:5, 6).” The Lord then said through Jeremiah, “if that nation against whom I have spoken turns from its evil, I will relent of the disaster that I thought to bring upon it (Jer. 18:8).”
God’s word through the prophet Jeremiah was intended for the Jews to be that nation God would relent from bringing disaster upon. God had no desire for Israel to be conquered by the Assyrians nor for Judah to be conquered by the Babylonians. The problem is that neither Israel nor Judah would repent from its sin. So, disaster came upon them.
Jonah is angry with God because the Assyrians actually did what those of the northern kingdom wouldn’t do! Honestly, if Jonah wants to be angry at anybody, it should’ve been his own people! God is simply faithful to His word and did for Nineveh what He would do for anybody that repents.
So, was it right for Jonah to be mad at God? Of course it wasn’t. Is it right for us to ever be mad at God? Of course it’s not. It doesn’t make much sense for us to be mad at God for Him being faithful to Himself.
God teaches Jonah an important lesson
So, Jonah headed outside of the city of Nineveh because he didn’t want to be around the people he hated (Jon. 4:5). Scripture tells us that he sat and watched to see what would become of the city.
This is an interesting note to me because it somewhat implies that Jonah was waiting to see if the people would have a change of heart. It almost seems like Jonah is still wishing for disaster to come upon the city and he wanted front row seats! There is no other way to say this: Jonah was being evil at this point. What’s even worse is that Jonah was a prophet of God.
Let me just say, this is no way for a servant of the Lord to think and move. God had to teach this man an incredibly important lesson. Scripture tells us that as Jonah was sitting and watching, God prepared a plant to come up over Jonah to provide shade for his head from his misery (Jon. 4:6). Whatever shelter Jonah had set up, it must not have done a good enough job protecting him from the heat.
So, Jonah was grateful for this plant that came out of nowhere and provided him comfort. Then, scripture tells us as the morning began to dawn, God prepared a worm that damaged the plant and caused it to wither (Jon. 4:7). So, when the sun rose, the Lord prepared a vehement east wind that likely knocked over Jonah’s shelter and left him sitting in the heat of the sun (Jon. 4:8).
As he was sitting there wishing for disaster to come upon the people of Nineveh, disaster was coming upon him. Jonah was near the point of passing out that he, again, wishes for death, saying, “it is better for me to die than to live.” God asked Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” To which Jonah responded, nearly passed out, “It is right for me to be angry, even to death (Jon. 4:9)!”
Jonah’s anger seems to know no bounds and has grown to the point of being angry just to be angry. In fact, his anger has turned into full on foolishness. We are certainly familiar with those who are angry just for the sake of being angry. Frankly, such anger becomes a waste of energy and only hurts the soul.
Jonah cared about and was angry about a plant that popped up, literally, out of nowhere. God even points this out to Jonah when He said to him, “You have had pity on (cared about) the plant for which you have not labored (Jon. 4:10).” Essentially, God was telling Jonah that he was angry about nothing when it came to the plant.
Then the Lord said to Jonah, “Should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left (Jon. 4:11)?” God was pointing out the difference to Jonah, who seemed to care more about that plant than he did the lives of the people in Nineveh.
Something that Jonah needed to learn and understand was that God cared about and loved the people of Nineveh even though they had lived wickedly. Even though the world was living wickedly, didn’t God give the world His only begotten Son? Yes He did.
God had given Jonah’s people a chance but his people had turned Him down. Why should such a chance and opportunity be taken away from those in Nineveh because Israel turned down their chance?
Paul realized that such history repeated itself on a larger scale through Christ. Paul wrote, “Through their (Israel’s) fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles (Rom. 11:11). There was actually a time where Paul was only ministering to the Jews but all they ever did was repeatedly turn him away. So, Paul took the word of God and began to preach to the Gentiles about salvation (Acts 13:42-52).
What became of Jonah
Jonah’s book comes to an end on that final note from the Lord. What became of Jonah? Well, considering that Jonah is the author, telling us the story of the things he had done, it’s safe to say he learned the lesson he has shared with us. Jonah earns my respect for not trying to share his testimony as if he was perfect.
Stories like Jonah’s are very pivotal because we often think of faithful workers in scripture as being perfect. However, someone like Jonah shows us that there can be internal conflict that believers will face. The important part is overcoming those inner conflicts through faith.
We must not live selfishly. The mindset Jonah displayed throughout this book was that which was worldly and this isn’t a mindset that pleases God. The mindset of God’s children should be to love life. Loving life means that we not only live for ourselves but we live for all of those around us. We live to uplift them so that we can all grow together and prosper.