"Do you have good reason to be angry?”

“The LORD said, ‘Do you have good reason to be angry?’” (Jonah 4:4).

                Do we have good reason to be angry?  Do we have the right to be angry at this moment?  In this world we live in, there are many things that are irritating, and I often hear people say 'I'm annoyed'.  Also, there are too many reasons for us to be angry in this world.  It seems that there are many people who are on the brink of anger.  When I think about why so many people are angry both internally and externally, I think one of the reasons is dissatisfaction.  Because we don’t have the satisfaction of life, we lost the balance of emotions and we get angry.

                Prophet Jonah was angry (Jonah 4:1).  He was angry because God didn’t bring the calamity upon the people of Nineveh (3:10).  Jonah wanted God to bring the calamity upon the Ninevites but God didn’t because God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way (v. 10).  Therefore Jonah was very displeased and angry (4:1).  In the midst of this anger Jonah prayed to God.  He offered his prayer to God in anger: “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country?  Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity.  Therefore now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life” (vv. 2-3).  When we consider Jonah's prayer, Jonah disobeyed the command of God, “Arise, go to Nineveh the great city and cry against it” (1:2), because he knew who God is (4:2).  Jonah’s excuse was that he ran away to Tarshish in disobeying the command of God, because he knew that God is “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” (v. 2).  Is this the good reason for Jonah to disobey the God’s command?  Then we see Jonah asking God to die in the midst of anger.  Did Jonah have good reason to be angry? (v. 4)  Jonah disobeyed the first command of God (1:2) for no good reason at all.  But he obeyed the second command of God by going to Nineveh “according to the word of the Lord” (3:2-3).  But God didn’t bring the calamity upon the people of Nineveh (v. 10) which made him greatly displeased and angry (4:1).  He was so angry that he asked God “O Lord, please take my life from me, for death is better to me than life” (v. 3).  Did Jonah have good reason to be angry? (v. 4)  So Jonah went out of the city of Nineveh with great anger and went out to the east side of the city, where he built the shelter for himself and sat under the shade to see what would happen to the city? (v. 5)  For this Jonah, who didn’t have the Father God's heart and was stubborn with his own will, God provided the vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort (v. 6).  And Jonah was very happy about the vine (v. 6).  What a contrasting Jonah's response?  Jonah, who was greatly displeased and became angry (4:1) because God didn’t bring the calamity upon the people of Nineveh, was very happy because of the vine that brought him comfort (v. 6).  Jonah’s selfish heart was very far away from God’s lovingkindness (v. 2).  His heart, which desired his comfort, wanted Nineveh to be destroyed.  Then God provided the worms to chew the plant at dawn on the next day (v. 7).  After this, God also provided the scorching east wind and sun rose blazed on Jonah’s head (v. 8).  As a result, Jonah grew faint and he wanted to die.  He said “It would be better for me to die than to live” (v. 8).  “But God said to Jonah, ‘Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?’” (v. 9).  Jonah said, “I do  …  I am angry enough to die” (v. 9).  The reason why Jonah was angry enough to die was because of the withered plant that he didn’t work, which he didn’t cause it to grow, which came up overnight and perished overnight (v. 10).  Although God had compassion on the people of Nineveh (more than 120,000 persons), Jonah had compassion on the plant that came up overnight and perished overnight (vv. 10-11).  Did Jonah have good reason to be angry?

                Today, God is asking us the same question: “Do you have good reason to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4).  Do we really have good reason to be angry?  Can we confidently say that we have good reason to be angry in God’s sight?  Why are we so angry?  Is it because the people of Nineveh are not destroyed, or because the plant that eases our discomfort is gone?  Do we really have compassion on whom God has compassion on?