God clearly relented from his anger toward the Ninevites,
who had truly repented, but God's servant, the prophet Jonah,
was so angry at God that he wanted to die.
Although there was no reason for Jonah to be angry
to the point of wishing to die in God's eyes,
he went out from the city of Nineveh
and made a shelter on the east side of the city,
sitting in its shade to see what would happen to the city (Jonah 4:4-5).
Clearly, Jonah knew that God had relented from bringing the disaster
He had declared upon the repentant people of Nineveh (3:10-4:2).
Yet, by going out from the city and making a shelter to sit in its shade,
it seems that Jonah still wanted God to destroy Nineveh,
as he had previously proclaimed (3:4).
From Jonah's perspective, God clearly told him,
'Go to that great city of Nineveh
and proclaim to it the message that I give you' (2:2).
He entered the city and walked around all day,
proclaiming that in forty days Nineveh would be overthrown (4:4).
The people of Nineveh believed the message he proclaimed (5:5),
sincerely prayed to God, repented of their wrongdoing,
and turned from their evil ways (8:8).
As a result, God relented from the disaster He had planned for them
and withdrew His anger so that they would not perish (9-10:10).
While God clearly withdrew His anger from
the genuinely repentant people of Nineveh, Jonah,
the prophet of God, became so angry that he wished to die (4:1, 3).
Jonah’s intense anger toward God suggests
that he wanted Nineveh to be destroyed to that extent.
While God clearly desires for everyone
to repent and be saved through faith in Jesus,
might we, like Jonah, be stubbornly holding onto our own wishes
for the destruction of those we personally dislike or hate?
When God’s will collides with our own (when there is a conflict),
we should pray, like Jesus, 'Not my will, but yours be done, Father'
(Luke 22:42).