When God’s Children Throw Fits

Good morning, brothers and sisters. I hope that your Sunday is going well.

Carolyn and I just returned from a cruise. On the first day, as soon as we get on the ship, I watched this little kid throw an absolute fit. I mean screaming, crying, kicking his feet, all the things; because he did not get what he wanted. I thought “Man… is this how we are going to start the cruise?” Then, like many of us would, I said to myself “Man, if that were my kid...”

Then I had another thought: “I wonder if that is what we look like to God when we don’t get what we want, when we throw fits?” Can you imagine if God reacted to us the way we deserve when we throw spiritual fits?

I think it is safe to assume that we ALL throw spiritual fits at times. One of the things we try to do is create connections between us and the people in the Bible.

God’s children having spiritual meltdowns is not a new problem. It is a biblical pattern. Throughout scripture, we see people having spiritual meltdowns all the time.

We also see the evidence of God’s mercy, patience, and love when we are throwing a fit.

We are going to look at a few examples of spiritual temper tantrums in the Bible, and Abba’s responses to those meltdowns. Let’s start with when God rescued the Israelites from Egypt. Israel’s time in the wilderness, was like ONE LONG SPIRITUAL TEMPER TANTRUM.

Let’s start with Exodus 16:1.

Exodus 16:1 NLT

1 Then the whole community of Israel set out from Elim and journeyed into the wilderness of Sin, between Elim and Mount Sinai. They arrived there on the fifteenth day of the second month, one month after leaving the land of Egypt.

First, Sin was a location, not sin like we think about it. God has led the Israelites out of Egypt creating a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night to lead them. The last line of the verse tells us that this is just ONE MONTH after God freed them from 400 YEARS OF CAPTIVITY. It has only been a month!

Exodus 16:2 NLT

2 There, too, the whole community of Israel complained (lun) about Moses and Aaron.

That Hebrew word, lun, appears all over the place in Exodus. It means to “complain, grumble, or murmur.” “There, too.” This means they have NOT STOPPED complaining since they left Egypt! The whole community means 1-3 million people! Complaining!

“Man, if they were my kids!” Grumbling and murmuring under their breath. “What did you say to me!” I would have smacked them all the way back to Egypt. By virtue of complaining against Moses and Aaron, they were complaining against God.

Exodus 16:3 NLT

3 “If only the Lord had killed us back in Egypt,” they moaned. “There we sat around pots filled with meat and ate all the bread we wanted. But now you have brought us into this wilderness to starve us all to death.”

A little dramatic, don’t you think? They are having a tantrum. A little discomfort and the response is: “I just want to die because I did not get what I wanted!” And, let’s be real. They did not have all the meat and bread they wanted in Egypt.

The Israelites were doing something many of us do: They created memories of the “Good ole days” that were magnified and exaggerated. They were slaves. They did not sit around feasting.

This is a picture of believers who want to go back to what God has delivered them from. Taking “side trips” back to their “Egypt.” There are believers who need to make a clean break from their old lives. We can’t live like the world, and expect to be of service to God. We are to live on the true Manna of Heaven, which is Christ.

Then in Exodus 17, they complain some more.

Exodus 17:3 NIV

3 But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

Now granted, they had been traveling for days, they were exhausted, their nerves were on edge, and their water supplies were low. They showed up in Rephidim, and there was no water, and the creeks were dry.

But God led them there. God provided a pillar of cloud by day, and a pillar of fire by night to lead the Israelites. Not only that, but:

God had just parted the Red Sea

God just destroyed the Egyptian army

God just brought them out of Egypt

They just witnessed a taste of the Power of God

I would like to say “I can’t believe they were acting like that!” But I can believe it. Because, it is a picture of how many believers behave!

The crazy thing is that they are blaming Moses and Aaron for their tantrums! “It’s your fault!” In essence, they are trying to pin THEIR lack of trust in God on the two people God chose to lead them. “It’s all your fault!”

How many of us have witnessed the power of God in our lives and in the lives of others? God doing what only God can do? Supernaturally intervening in a situation that seemed hopeless and lost? Parting that proverbial Red Sea in your life? Bringing you out of your Egypt, out of your captivity? He has done it many times in my life! Yet, I will bet dollars to donuts, that LESS THAN a month later, we will find something to complain about! We have a tendency to forget the blessings and mercy we had just received.

And then, we will blame someone else when we do not see the bigger picture in God’s plan. When things don’t go exactly the way we want them to go. “Somebody else must have messed up God’s plan for me!” How about, just hear me out, we put our faith in God instead of people.

Throughout Exodus, we get a picture of God’s mercy and love for his children. What does God do? He does not smite them for being thankless, disobedient, and ungrateful brats. God does not say “Come back when you are grateful.” Nope. He meets them in the middle of their tantrum. Just like he does with us.

God provides them with manna, quail, and water! The point is that their spiritual immaturity, their meltdowns, did not cancel God’s mercy. God still provided for their needs.

We may not always get what we want when we want it, but Abba provides for his children in ways we never see coming at times. His mercy is new every morning. Even when we are not obedient or faithful to God, God remains faithful. He is the faithful one.

Now, let’s look at one of the clearest examples of a grown man throwing a spiritual fit. Jonah’s tantrum. Within the first three chapters of the Book of Jonah, Jonah has a few tantrums. I am going to do a quick summary.

The first thing Jonah says to God is: "I don’t wanna!” Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh to deliver God’s message, he wanted God to destroy Nineveh, so he ran the other way.

Then Jonah says: “Fine! I’ll go!” This is of course after being thrown off a boat, swallowed by a fish, and spit out on a beach.

Like I said, we were on a cruise last week. I was staring over the balcony, down at the ocean, thinking about Jonah. I am looking, and I say to myself “I wonder… if I jumped in, if God would send a big fish to save me?” I decided against it.

Jonah goes on to delivers the LORD’s message, and ALL OF NINEVEH REPENTS! God was going to destroy Nineveh, but decides to spare them instead. THIS SENDS JONAH INTO A CHILDISH TEMPER TANTRUM.

Let’s look at Jonah 4:1.

Jonah 4:1 NLT

1 This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry.

Jonah goes on to say this in Jonah 4:3

Jonah 4:3 NLT

3 Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen.”

Again with the drama! Jonah wanted Nineveh destroyed. God spared Nineveh. Jonah became so angry that God spared them that Jonah threw a childish fit. “I would rather die than not get what I want!” This is a prophet of God! There is hope for me!

How did God respond? Did he throw Jonah back to the fish? Did he shout Jonah down? No. He shepherds Jonah’s heart. God asks Jonah a simple question in Jonah 4:4.

Jonah 4:4 NLT

4 The Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry about this?”

The worldly response is “I HAVE EVERY RIGHT TO BE MAD!”

What does Jonah do? He is so mad that he ignores God, does not say a word, and storms off to the other side of the city. As he is throwing his tantrum and sulking, God provides Jonah with:

A plant for shade

A worm to challenge his perspective

A lesson and correction in compassion

Jonah’s childish reaction became the stage for Abba’s fatherly patience. Jonah knew, and God knew, that if the same standards were applied to Jonah that Jonah wanted applied to Nineveh, he would have also deserved death for his disobedience. He too was shown mercy and patience. He too was delivered by God.

At times, we become angry or frustrated with the behaviors and actions of others. I have had times when I lashed out at others or blamed others knowing FULL WELL that my behaviors, or even how I was acting in the moment, was as bad or even worse than what they had done! On a scale of 1-10, the other person was at like a 3-5. Here I was, in full meltdown mode, setting the chart on fire!

Be honest when you throw a spiritual temper tantrum. God knows your having one, don’t lie to yourself or God about it. He hears what we we say under our breath. He knows the grumbling and murmuring of our hearts.

How about the disciples? Almost all of us have read or heard the account of the storm at the Sea of Galilee. Do you recall what they disciples said? They said this to Jesus:

Mark 4:38 NLT

38 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?”

First, I love the picture of Jesus’ humanity here. He was exhausted from days of teaching. Jesus was OUT COLD! The disciples had to shout to wake him up!

But, just WOW! If we were to take what they asked Jesus and put it in today’s context, they would be saying, “You don’t even care that we are going to drown!”

That is a fit. Fear-driven. Emotion-driven. Short-sighted. And, even accusatory. They are accusing Jesus of not caring about them. After Jesus rebukes the wind and stills the waters, Jesus asks the disciples a simple question:

Mark 4:40 NLT

40 Then he asked them, “Why are you afraid? Do you still have no faith?”

Jesus does not yell at them.

He does not shame them.

He does not abandon them.

He does not reject them.

Jesus teaches them.

Jesus always asked these incredible questions that cause us to look deep inside of ourselves. Their meltdown becomes a moment of revelation for the disciples. They went from being afraid to being in awe.

So many believers still hold on to this deep seated belief that when they struggle or face what seems like insurmountable odds, that God has abandoned them, rejected them, or is punishing them.

God does not do any of those things to his children.

The answer to a prayer may be “no.” Sometimes, the answer is simply “no.”

We may not receive a healing the way we want.

We may not see the hand of the Father at work.

It does not mean he is not at work or that he has abandoned you or that he is punishing you. God is a good Father and those things are simply not a part of his character.

The Psalmist reminds us of God’s great love for his children in Psalm 103:13-14

Psalm 103:13–14 NLT

13 The Lord is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate (racham) to those who fear him. 14 For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.

This word racham means:

deep tender mercy

parental affection

love that bends down to help the weak

For those who are true believers, racham is a love that reached down from Heaven in the form of Jesus Christ.

God’s compassion is not triggered by our strength — it is triggered by our weakness. God created us and knows we are only dust. He responds to us with racham, compassion, mercy, and unending grace.

Luke 15 gives us one of the clearest pictures of God’s heart.

The prodigal son rehearses a speech of shame he is going to say to his father when he returns home. In that speech, he is planning on saying, “I am no longer worthy to be called your son.”

How many of us have planned what we were going to say to try to get off the hook for something or to justify something? Do you realize that when the prodigal son made his case to come home, the father does not even respond to what he says?

The father runs to him while he is still a long way off. Our Father in Heaven only cares that we come home.

This is an incredible picture of God’s grace, mercy, and love:

• The son is not cleaned up.

• The son is not emotionally stable.

• The son is not spiritually mature.

• The son is still in meltdown mode.

And the father embraces him.

He doesn’t wait for the apology. He doesn’t wait for repentance to be perfectly worded. He doesn’t wait for the son to “get it together.”

He meets him in the mess.

That is the heart of the gospel message. That is the racham, the compassion, and the heart of God!

God meets us in our fits, not after them.

God’s mercy doesn’t just tolerate our childish fits — it transforms them into childlike faith.

We all throw fits at some point. It does not surprise God or catch him off guard. When you are in the midst of a spiritual fit:

Let his Word speak peace to your soul: “Be still, fear not, I am with you, my grace is sufficient.”

Let his mercy restore you. He does not wait for perfection. He meets you in your weakness.

When you throw a fit in fear, frustration, confusion, or disappointment - God does not walk away.

You are still his child. He is still your heavenly Father, and, his mercy is still bigger than any fit or meltdown you or I could ever have. He kneels. He gathers you close. He speaks peace. He loves you back into trust.

Because the God who loves His children when they are doing right is also the God who loves them when they throw fits.

Prayer