"How Old Is Your Anger?” (Jonah 4:1-2)

"How Old Is Your Anger?” (Jonah 4:1-2)

The human heart can only contain so many emotions. At its bedrock, at our most foundational levels, we are either angry or grateful. Now Jonah, the man of God, should have been grateful for the work that He had just witnessed God perform.

Over 120,000 people and their belongings had been spared the wrath of God (Jonah 4:11) and the only person in the immediate surroundings of Nineveh that was upset about it was Jonah. Jonah was so angry that God had pity on his enemies that he wished he were dead (Jonah 4:3).

This is where the book of Jonah ends: the man of God is mad about the work of God. Did you know that the longstanding evil emotions of our hearts (whether justified or not) can prevent us from being grateful and having any kind of peace and contentment in our lives?

Everybody under the sound of my voice is working toward something that we believe will make us content: degrees, homes, cars, careers, wealth, fame, success, you name it. But if we are carrying anger, bitterness, envy or unforgiveness with us (within our hearts), we will never have the kind of peace that God promised His people (Philippians 4:7).

None of us will ever be perpetually content until we deal with what we have been carrying. We may be happy at times (because of our bank accounts, the trip we took, or something that someone promised us), but we will not have the type of contentment that only He can give. So many of us need to learn the lesson of Jonah. Consider the following three points.

1. The trials we meet in life point to the anger or regret that is within us.

a. Jonah was told to go to Nineveh (Jonah 1:2).

b. Jonah ran from God’s commands because of what was in his heart. In fact, he ran in the opposite direction – to Tarshish (Jonah 1:3).

i. Nineveh was the capital city of the Assyrian empire. The Assyrians, for all of Jonah’s life and beyond, were the enemies of the Jews (2nd Kings 17:5-6; Isaiah 10:5-6).

ii. In fact, some of Jonah’s contemporaries prophesied that the Assyrians would eventually conquer the northern kingdom (Hosea 9:3, 11:5; Amos 5:27).

c. Jonah did not want God to show them mercy (Jonah 4:2), but he didn’t realize that by not wanting God to show them mercy, meant that he still carried anger and resentment against them.

d. The minute that Jonah did not obey God or confess his anger, he was actually fleeing God’s presence (Jonah 1:3, 10).

2. Whales (and storms) await those who are going in the wrong direction.

a. Jonah boarded a ship, but the ship got caught up in a storm (Jonah 1:4).

b. We all know Jonah from children on up because of the time that he spent in the belly of the great fish (Jonah 1:17). This is what he is known for and the things in our lives that we become known for (the obstacles) represent our great fish.

3. We can watch God’s grace being extended to others and miss it ourselves.

a. Jonah prayed from within the belly of the great fish (Jonah 2:1-9).

b. Jonah cried out that salvation belongs to the Lord, and the Lord relented and caused the fish to release Jonah (Jonah 2:10).

c. Jonah witnessed God save a whole city that didn’t deserve it. But in his heart, he still held on to bitterness. He told God in Jonah 4:2 in the ESV:

“This is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God, and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”

“Christ First, Christ Only, Christ Always”