Jonah was swallowed by a big a fish and spent three days and three nights there. After repenting and the fish vomiting him out, he was ready to follow God’s instructions. This time, he went to Nineveh and preached repentance.
But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it isbetter for me to die than to live!”
Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah 4:1-4
The Assyrians heeded the Lord’s warning and repented, so God relented and did not allow disaster to come upon them. Jonah’s response was displeasure and anger towards God!! He was angry at God because of God’s patience and mercy towards Assyrians.
Isn’t it interesting that God just saved Jonah from the belly of the fish because he repented, but Jonah didn’t want others to have the same advantage or privilege that he just enjoyed? Did he think that his sin wasn’t as big as the Assyrians? Or did he presume he is God’s special person, so those idolaters shouldn’t get the same good treatment that he is getting?
Jonah the prophet had God’s words, but he didn’t have His heart. This is an important aspect of ministry that needs attention. We can prepare, study, and know the word of God. We can learn God’s principles and try to live by them, but those things don’t always translate into having love and mercy for people. We think we love people until the Lord tests our hearts by bringing different situations to see how much mercy and love we can show towards others.
A prophet or a representative of God must have a desire to have God’s heart for people. If we don’t have His heart, we can become frustrated, like Jonah, when God relents His anger instead of being joyful. We can’t be more righteous than God is. When God wants to show mercy and we have a problem with it, we are basically saying that we have set our righteousness above God. That’s self-righteousness!!
This is similar to being an ambassador for our nation and the President wanting to reconcile with a hostile nation; we, having lived there for a long time and seeing the nation’s wickedness, are not happy that America wants to create peace with them. Well, as an ambassador we’re only there to represent our nation and our president. We are not there to represent ourselves; if we can’t align ourselves with that, then we’re not qualified to be there because our presence will hinder the process!!
Jesus set a wonderful example for us. People humiliated him, spat on him, and ultimately crucified him, but He didn’t get angry with people. He could have been obedient to the cross but angry at the people who were treating him so unfairly. Instead he cried out “Father, forgive them, for they do not know what they do.”(Luke 23:34a) That was a heart of love, mercy, and compassion. If we are going to be effective in reaching people, we need to pray that God would give us His heart and His compassion for people.
The Lord asks Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry?”. The Lord is basically saying that Jonah, you don’t the right to be angry. This anger was Jonah’s own issue; it was not a righteous anger.
There are times that we can be exasperated with a person or a group of people, and we often have our own good reasons. However, the Lord is not treating them the way we think they should be treated. His treatment can cause a fleshly anger in our hearts. We may think they don’t deserve God’s mercy or blessings. The Lord may ask us, also, “Is it right for you to be angry?” If the Lord is choosing to show mercy and kindness then we need to let go of our anger. We need to stay aligned to Him and hear His heartbeat!!
What is interesting about Assyrians is that while they repented at that time, their repentance didn’t last forever and later they went to back to their idolatry. Ultimately this great empire lost its kingdom and Babylonians took over. God dealt with their disobedience eventually, although He showed patience for a long time and was merciful when they were repentant. Jonah became angry and embittered by God’s seemingly slow response, and as a result he didn’t get to enjoy God’s process.
This is a place where we can learn from Jonah to guard our hearts. God will deal with people and situations in His time and in His way. If we set a certain expectation on how things should happen and our expectations don’t match up with God’s plan, it could affect our faith and our relationship with the Lord. If He is the Lord, then He is the one who leads us and we’ll follow even when we don’t understand, when things look unfair, and at times others are adversely affected.
Lord help us to have your heart for people and have the courage and desire to do what you ask us !!