Why did Jonah believe so strongly that he was in the right?

God, who prepared a great fish (Jonah 1:10) and a gourd plant (4:6),

also prepared a worm that ate the gourd plant at dawn the next day,

causing it to wither and wither away the plant

that had saved Jonah from his suffering (v. 7).

And God prepared a hot east wind when the sun rose,

so that Jonah almost fainted from the heat of the sun beating down on his head.

So he wanted to die and said, “It is better for me to die than to live” (v. 8).

Then God said to Jonah,

“Is it right for you to be angry because of the gourd plant?”

Then Jonah said, “I am right to be angry, even to death” (v. 9).

When I meditate on this passage, I receive several lessons:

(1) Our God is a God who prepares. He prepares things like the great fish

to rescue us and things like the vine to relieve our suffering.

Moreover, God also prepares worms to remove

the shade that the vine provided in our lives.

Additionally, He prepares 'scorching east winds'

that can bring us to the brink of collapse.

(2) Like Jonah, we greatly rejoice over the great fish

or vine that are beneficial to us (Jonah 4:6),

yet we dislike and become angry at the worms or scorching east winds

that seem to cause us great distress (Ref.: 4:1).

We should pay attention to the words in Romans 8:28:

'And we know that in all things God works for the good of those

who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.'

(3) When God asked Jonah, 'Is it right for you to be angry?' (Jonah 4:4),

and later questioned him, 'Is it right for you to be angry about the vine?' (v. 9),

we see that while God was in the right, Jonah was not.

Yet he still insisted, 'I am so angry I wish I were dead' (v. 9).

Why did Jonah believe so strongly that he was in the right?