THEME:
God showed compassion to a repentant city—Nineveh—and instead of celebrating that his message had been taken seriously, Jonah got angry. He wasn’t thankful that they wouldn’t spend eternity in hell. No—he was furious. Deep down, he wanted them to die in their unbelief. But before we judge Jonah too harshly, we need to ask: Are you and I capable of that same kind of hypocrisy? We constantly need to ask ourselves one question: What’s really in my heart?
KEY SCRIPTURE:
Jonah 4:1-4
Jonah 4:1-4
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. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Search your heart thoroughly because roots of bitterness love to hide
Jonah 3:10
When God saw what they did, how they turned from their evil way, God relented of the disaster that he had said he would do to them, and he did not do it.
Jonah 3:2
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.”
Roots of anger and bitterness can cause your moral compass to become misaligned
Jonah 3:3
“Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
If bitterness and anger are left to fester, they will eventually surface—often with destructive consequences
Jonah 3:4
And the Lord said, “Do you do well to be angry?”
Ephesians 4:31-32
Let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you, along with all malice. Be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ forgave you.
Bitterness and anger can deprive you of the joy of watching God work