Musings on Jonah, Part One:  Is it right for you to be angry?

A few years back, I was embroiled in a vicious cycle of anger and hurt over the way my daughter had been treated. And a very dear friend said to me, “Courtnie, you and I are both angry about this. The difference is that you are ashamed of your anger, while I am proud of mine.” 

For those of us who were raised in the church and became Christians young in life, anger may have been a bit of a taboo subject for us. Perhaps it still is. After all, as Christians, aren’t we supposed to be slow to anger and quick to forgive? Aren’t we supposed to be a people motivated by God’s grace and love? 

Just a couple of well-known verses on anger include James 1:20, which tells us that man’s anger does not produce the righteousness of God. And Ephesians 4:26-27, which says to be angry and do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and give no opportunity to the devil.

This summer, I learned something about anger as I was reading back through the book of Jonah, and I just camped out in chapter four for about a week. I just read chapter four over and over and over again. 

I’ll summarize the context for you:  God told Jonah to go to Nineveh to let them know that God was displeased with them and was about to act. Jonah didn’t want to go, so he sailed off in a different direction; that is, until a fearsome storm arose and Jonah felt compelled to tell the others on the boat to throw him overboard because his disobedience to God was to blame for the storm. 

Then Jonah was swallowed up by a big fish (the NIV actually words it as the Lord provided a fish to swallow Jonah), and he spent three days inside of this creature before being deposited onto dry land. 

He then went to Nineveh and relayed God’s message to them, and chapter three tells us:  When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened (v. 10).

So we begin chapter four with these words:  But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, “Isn’t this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now, Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live” (v. 1-3).

Now, it’s easy to read this and judge Jonah. He should have realized how much God had forgiven him and in turn been thankful that God spared Nineveh the destruction He had planned. After all, hadn’t Jonah just spent a few nights in the belly of a fish? His own disobedience should have still been pretty fresh in his mind.

But not only did he receive God’s grace for himself without then giving grace to others, Jonah was so enraged over this that he wanted to die. It sounds a bit dramatic, but let’s confess that we are all prone to overreact sometimes. And in the moment, we really do feel like life is too hard and too unfair to be lived. 

What I love here, and what I have pondered, is God’s response to Jonah. In verse 4, God simply asks him a question:  Is it right for you to be angry?

I must point out here what God does not say. He does not yell at Jonah for being ungrateful and ungracious. He does not remind Jonah of all the grace God has shown Jonah. He simply asks the thought-provoking question:  Is it right for you to be angry?

I have imagined God asking me this question when I’m upset. It’s gentle, loving, but also direct and unflinching. Do I have the right to be angry? I feel like asking ourselves this question may be like pouring a bucket of water on the fires of bitterness that can at times be found simmering in our hearts. It can reorient our thinking and cause us to say, you know what, I don’t have the right to be angry at this.

Let’s see how Jonah responds:  Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant.

But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would have been better for me to die than to live.”

But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?”

“It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead” (v. 5-9).

Sometimes, when we imagine God asking us if we have the right to be angry about whatever it is on which we are currently stewing, our answer is a remorseful no. But other times, we, like Jonah here, may find ourselves uttering an impassioned yes. Yes, it is right for me to be angry!

The good news is that God didn’t strike Jonah dead for his somewhat impertinent response. Not even close. 

God answered, “You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left – and also many animals?” (v. 10-11).

[Stay tuned for Part Two – coming soon!]