Decades ago a close pastoral friend of mine from our seminary days fell into marital unfaithfulness. Let us be reminded that the cost of sexual sin is never worth the damage it does in our lives and the lives of others. With that said, what stood out to me in this situation, was his “reason” for sinning. He was his angry with God. This man was an incredibly gifted communicator and was privileged to pastor a large, growing church. But it all came crashing down because God did not do what he wanted. He fell into the trap of blaming God as the justification for his indulgence. I share this account to get our attention of how vulnerable we are to this same failure. It is something we must all be on guard against: Throwing a temper tantrum because God is not giving me what I want!
I was recently struck again by the abrupt ending of the Prophet Jonah. It is easy to focus on the miracle of the rebellious prophet being swallowed by a “great fish” and miss the point. Jonah was throwing a “Christian” temper-tantrum. God got to the heart of the issue when He later takes away Jonah’s shade from the hot sun. “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry. And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That 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.” (Jonah 4:1–2). Gotta love his and our reasoning; “It is all God’s fault because He did not do what we wanted!”
What stood out to me is how miserable we are when we try to be God and how miserable we make life for others. Jonah did finally get the point that God is not messing around after spending three days in the fish and he turns back to God. We might be tempted to think at this point everything is resolved and Jonah is going to do great things for the Lord but that’s not quite how Jonah’s story ends. The Lord still does do a great work through Jonah’s preaching. The massive influential city experiences spiritual revival by repenting from their sins. The significance of what took place in Ninevah is hard to comprehend, but nothing is impossible to God.
There is still a heart problem with the “Man of God” Jonah, however. We see his response to God’s mercy on Nineveh as mentioned above, “But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was angry.” One of hardest things to do is to evaluate our own hearts. The account of Jonah is a great filter for us to evaluate our own anger. While we often manifest our anger towards others, it is often anger toward God. Just like Jonah, it is revealed in our response to unrealized expectations that God is not doing it my way. This often leads us to stiff arming-God and “copping an attitude!”
Let me leave with a couple thoughts. First, the anger in your life toward yourselves or others is usually almost always rooted in anger with our Creator. Second, if you are fighting against God, He always wins. And third, the sooner we let God be God the sooner we become a testimony for God and a blessing to others!
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.” 1 Peter 5:6–7 ESV.
-Pastor Joe Parkinson