Angry at God

My image of Jonah

In the Old Testament Lesson for Sunday, Jonah is angry with God. He's angry because God did not destroy the sinful city of Nineveh. Jonah is fuming because God called him all the way from his home to come preach to the people of Nineveh and now he doesn't even get to see them punished for their wicked ways. Instead, God has forgiven them because they repented.

God says to Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry?" And he replies, "Yes, angry enough to die."

Jonah is angry because of what he perceives as the injustice of God. The Ninevites should have been punished! Why weren't they receiving the penalty for their sin?

I wonder if any of us can identify with Jonah. Maybe we haven't been angry with God as such, but we've been angry at perceived injustice. When life isn't fair, or when we feel misused, we get angry.

I think it's notable that God doesn't say Jonah's anger is wrong. He simply points out the objects of his compassion. "Look at these people, a hundred twenty thousand...and also many animals." The compassion of God is bigger than Jonah can envision.

Perhaps our anger can be mitigated sometimes in a similar way. We can look at things from God's perspective and not our own.