God’s question to an angry man …

There are more than 7.8 billion people alive on planet Earth today.

Of those people, 4.9 billion of them are users of social media.

One of the most prominent content elements of social media is expressions of anger.

There’s a lot of angry people in the world!

So many of us think nothing of “going online” and publicly raging about what makes us angry, which is usually other people. We think nothing of it; in fact, we think it’s perfectly fine to be so angry at other people.

Jonah had similar thoughts.

The people of Nineveh were so sinful Jonah thought they should be destroyed. He actually became angry when God changed His mind about destroying the Ninevites because they had listened to the message God had Jonah deliver and responded with repentance. Jonah complained that God responded to this repentance with mercy:

“This change of plans greatly upset Jonah, and he became very angry. So he complained to the Lord about it: ‘Didn’t I say before I left home that you would do this, Lord? That is why I ran away to Tarshish! I knew that you are a merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love. You are eager to turn back from destroying people. Just kill me now, Lord! I’d rather be dead than alive if what I predicted will not happen,'” Jonah 4:1-3.

Even though we — and Jonah as well — may think it’s a good thing to unleash our anger about others, God doesn’t often agree with that. Yes, there’s a time and place when anger is appropriate but James helps us understand we don’t usually get the time and place right:

“Understand this, my dear brothers and sisters: You must all be quick to listen, slow to speak, and slow to get angry. Human anger does not produce the righteousness God desires,” James 1:19-20.

So, when Jonah voiced his anger, God responded with a question:

“The Lord replied, ‘Is it right for you to be angry about this?'” Jonah 4:4.

No, it wasn’t right that Jonah would be angry about God having mercy on the repentant Ninevites. That isn’t all Jonah would display his anger about. When Jonah stormed off to watch what would happen to the people of Nineveh, God had mercy on him for a little while by causing a leafy plant to grow and provide shade for some relief from the blazing sun. But God also provided a worm to gnaw on the plant, causing it to wither. When Jonah voiced his displeasure over this, God once again asks Jonah that insightful question about anger:

“Then God said to Jonah, ‘Is it right for you to be angry because the plant died?'”

Jonah thought it was, but God corrected Him:

“Then the Lord said, ‘You feel sorry about the plant, though you did nothing to put it there. It came quickly and died quickly. But Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn’t I feel sorry for such a great city?'” Jonah 4:10-11.

The book of Jonah ends with that question, and it’s a good place for us to stop when we’re angry — to stop and ask ourselves the very same question God asked Jonah about his anger:

“Is it right?”

Are you an angry person? If so, is it right? Would God agree with you?

Scotty