Jonah’s Anger

Intro

As we round out our study of Jonah, we expect some great and happy, light hearted ending! We know that God saved the Ninevites from their sin, so we celebrate!

Naturally, we expect Jonah to celebrate with us! After all Luke 15:7 “I say unto you, that likewise joy shall be in heaven over one sinner that repenteth, more than over ninety and nine just persons, which need no repentance.”

But, instead, we find a very angry Jonah. A rebel prophet, set in his sin, mad that God moved in a way that he didn’t like.

In our world, we find anger to be very prevalent. In our country and all others, riots take place, protests, screaming debates, arguments leading to nowhere fueled by pride.

Anger is an emotion, so many think it is okay to express in however they see fit no matter the repercussions. In other words, it is mine therefore I have the right to do with it what I please.

This is the mindset that fuels sin in our lives. For, things like anger, should be given to God for control. Sin should be surrendered so that is not ours anymore.

We forget this.

Jonah forgot this.

Jonah was angry. Unrighteously angry.

There is a difference between righteous and unrighteous anger, and we are quick to label all of our anger righteous because it is ours after all, therefore we have the right to label it as we please.

This is a subjective and post-enlightenment thought that is self-centered and wrong.

Righteous anger is when we are upset and concerned because something has happened that has brought injustice or pain upon things which do not deserve it.

When things that God ordains are defiled. We can ask “Would Jesus be angry about this?”

Matthew 21:12 “And Jesus went into the temple of God, and cast out all them that sold and bought in the temple, and overthrew the tables of the moneychangers, and the seats of them that sold doves,”

Our anger must not be labeled righteous unless it is righteous indeed. We must reserve table flipping for tables that truly need flipped.

Jonah was angry at God. Jonah overreacted. It was completely unrighteous. Our story ends with a depressed and angry prophet, called out by God, and rotting in self pity.

Jonah’s anger teaches us something about our unrighteous anger.

First is that Unrighteous Anger can Cause us to believe wrong things.

Unrighteous Anger can Cause Us to Believe Wrong Things

Jonah 4:1–4 KJV 1900

But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. And he prayed unto the Lord, and said, I pray thee, O Lord, was not this my saying, when I was yet in my country? Therefore I fled before unto Tarshish: for I knew that thou art a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repentest thee of the evil. Therefore now, O Lord, take, I beseech thee, my life from me; for it is better for me to die than to live. Then said the Lord, Doest thou well to be angry?

Jonah, immediately after he saw the repentance of Nineveh, thought and believed wrong things

Jonah believed that God has cheated him and his feelings, he believed that this was the worst thing to happen instead of the best, and he ultimately believed that life was no longer worth living.

Jonah Believed God had Cheated Him

Jonah chapter 4 could easily be titled “the problem with sinful emotions” because that is what we see. We see Jonah react with sinful emotion and begin to question God for His righteous deeds.

The biggest issue with all of this is an issue that some of us have, Jonah saw this entire situation revolving around him.

This is not why God works.

God does not do wonderful things with only you in mind. The primary reason God does what He does is for His glory, then it is for our good.

Jonah forgot this.

Sometimes you forget this.

Everything that happens in this world is not about you! We are not the center of anything.

God’s will is. He glory is. And the redemption of mankind to Himself is.

You are not.

I am not.

Jonah was not.

And, he couldn’t come to terms with this.

God did not cheat Jonah, rather God saved a nation. This is the important part of the story!

Jonah Believed that This was the Worst Thing to Happen

Remember, Jonah is in the middle of the enemy nation, they don’t “deserve” salvation! This is what Jonah is thinking. Have you ever thought that about someone?

If so, you would be RIGHT

You heard that correctly, you would be right if you believe that people around you do not deserve God’s mercy. But, neither do you. None of us do!

Salvation is God’s greatest act of grace and mercy on a world of undeserving sinners.

This includes Nineveh, this includes you and I.

But, when we witness God’s mercy poured out on people, our job is to celebrate, not mourn!

Our job is to look at them and begin discipling, not immediately questioning the validity of their decision.

Our job is to see God’s grace poured out on a sinner as the greatest thing to happen! Not the worst.

We are hypocrites when we look at a lost soul saved and mourn. No matter how they have treated us, they are now our brother or sister in Christ.

The same God who saved you saved them, be glad!

Jonah was not, he was unrighteously angry, he sinned in this.

Jonah Believed that Life was No Longer Worth Living

Ultimately, this was Jonah’s core belief in this moment.

Now, we may think, yeah he is overreacting. I would NEVER react this way.

And, with a great revival, you are right, you probably would not have reacted this way. But, again, to Jonah this was the worst case scenario.

Many times in life, worst case scenarios make us think life is no longer worth living.

Simply put, this is a lie of the enemy!

When we develop this mindset, we must ask “Who or what are we living for?”

If the answer is God, then worst case scenarios can be seen through God’s lens and will 

But, when those scenarios make us question life, we have to realize that we are living for ourselves, or for whatever situation has failed and caused us to spiral.

Life in Christ is worth living no matter what, for He provides good things on this earth, and even more in eternity.

Unrighteous Anger Can Make You Hope for Wrong Things

Not only can an unrighteous anger make you think wrong things, lies of the enemy, but it can make you hope wrong and sinful things.

Jonah 4:5–8 KJV 1900

So Jonah went out of the city, and sat on the east side of the city, and there made him a booth, and sat under it in the shadow, till he might see what would become of the city. And the Lord God prepared a gourd, and made it to come up over Jonah, that it might be a shadow over his head, to deliver him from his grief. So Jonah was exceeding glad of the gourd. But God prepared a worm when the morning rose the next day, and it smote the gourd that it withered. And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

The firs thing that pops up in this section of Scripture is the fact that Jonah disbelieved God!

God said that if repentance occured, that He would spare the Ninevites. They repented. Yet, Jonah found a spot, got nice and comfy, and waited for God’s wrath to be poured out on the Ninevites. This did not happen.

His unrighteous anger made him hope that judgement would fall and that 120,000 people would plunge into Hell.

This is sinful!

Our hope should be that all come to repentance in Christ.

Romans 12:2 “And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.”

This passage sums it up. Before Christ, we do not care, with Christ our mind is transformed to the mind of Christ, and with such a mind, we should want the things that God wants.

What does God want?

2 Peter 3:9 “The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.”

That all come to repentance.

Never in any circumstance should we hope that people would go to Hell. Not in the fleshly mind nor in the transformed mind.

Then comes God’s great illustration to Jonah, one that made Jonah miserable and wish to die again.

God showed grace on Jonah, provided shade for him in the midst of that terrible middle eastern heat.

This made him glad!

Here is the irony.

Personal comfort made him glad, but not the salvation of 120,000 people!

This is the state of many today!

We are content and happy in our comfort, yet don’t care about lost and dying people.

I know that the Scriptures say the way to Hell is wide and many will walk it, but that should not make us complacent.

Rather, it should empower us to share the gospel with as many as possible!

Don’t get comfortable while you sit back and watch people go to hell. This is what Jonah did. This is wrong.

And God shows us this as he takes Jonah’s anger away. He appointed a worm to eat the gourd. God prepared a terrible wind and hot sun which would have been miserable!

Jonah is in the desert, the hot sand is blowing on him as the sun beats down on his body.

He wants to die again.

God is not pleased with our complacency, God is not pleased with a heart that does not long for people to be saved.

And, God may not allow you to sit in your comfort while the world dies around you, He may just remove it.

Get up and work before it comes to that!

Unrighteous anger will lead to God moving in your life in a way that gets your attention. Let it. Repent of that unrighteous anger, and continue on for God.

If not, you will, like Jonah, miss good things!

Unrighteous Anger Will Make You Miss Good Things

God has good things prepared, we must simply be ready to watch them unfold.

Jonah 4:9–11 KJV 1900

And God said to Jonah, Doest thou well to be angry for the gourd? And he said, I do well to be angry, even unto death. Then said the Lord, Thou hast had pity on the gourd, for the which thou hast not laboured, neither madest it grow; which came up in a night, and perished in a night: And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more than sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle?

God reprimands Jonah! He said “Is this a righteous anger?” Jonah says “YES it is! I am miserable!”

God is very blunt in saying, “So you are telling me that you are more miserable of the loss of this gourd than the loss of 120,000 souls?”

You didn’t make this gourd, I did. I also made Nineveh and their people. This gourd is temporary, the Ninevites souls are eternal. You have pity on a vegetable but not Nineveh?

There are 120,000 people in Nineveh that are ignorant to salvation and you are okay with that?

Now, we don’t know Jonah’s response, but I believe if it was one of repentance and following God again that it would have said it. We are left assuming the worst about Jonah.

Good things were happening, and Jonah chose selfish pity instead. God was not pleased.

This goes beyond the salvation of souls too!

Good things from God are all around you, yet how often do we neglect to see them past all of our self-pity?

You are missing God’s blessings because you are too focused on yourself, your problems, your pain, your suffering, maybe even your comfort!

God is telling you here, look past the temporary sufferings and look to the wonderful blessings that I have made a reality in your life!

Unrighteous anger blinds you to God’s ever gracious hand!

Unrighteous anger is a permeating problem in the lives of so many and so many don’t even realize it because they have listen to the lie of the enemy and convinced themselves that their anger is justified!

It may be!

But it very well may not be.

It was not for our Rebel Prophet.

Is your anger justified? Is it righteous? Would Jesus be angry about this?

I wonder.

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Conclusion

I want you to take a real moment and ponder. Search yourself. You know what you are angry about. Is it righteous? Is it justified? If not, come lay it down. Come bury it. Come give it to Jesus. Come repent.

Maybe you can’t relate because you aren’t even saved.

Salvation is your decision to turn from your sin and turn to Jesus. Have you done that? Or did you just come down and pray because other people did?

It is not just about how you feel, it is about a commitment between you and God and if He loves the Ninevites, then He loves you.

*Salvation plea*

Would you come pray?