Jonah's Anger at the Lord 's Compassion1 But Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry. 2 He prayed to the LORD, "O LORD, is this not what I said when I was still at home? That is why I was so quick to flee to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. 3 Now, O LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live."4 But the LORD replied, "Have you any right to be angry?"
5 Jonah went out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. 6 Then the LORD God provided a vine and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the vine. 7 But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the vine so that it withered. 8 When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah's head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, "It would be better for me to die than to live."
9 But God said to Jonah, "Do you have a right to be angry about the vine?"
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
10 But the LORD said, "You have been concerned about this vine, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. 11 But Nineveh has more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left, and many cattle as well. Should I not be concerned about that great city?"
Being angry....we have all been angry, maybe are currently angry, and will most certainly be angry again at some point in the future. Being angry is a normal emotion, a feeling that humans experience....sometimes more often than we would care for! Sometimes a situation that has made us angry has been over and done with for quite some time, and maybe the person/people who we are angry at...don't even know you're angry; but we still stew it over in our minds and let it take control of our hearts. I think one of the hardest things to do is to forget....it's not that challenging for me to forgive someone, but forgetting is something I have a hard time doing....and sometimes I hold onto it longer than I should. As I said earlier, anger is a natural emotion for humans; and it's not wrong to be angry. I think where being angry can cause harm is how we handle the anger. The Bible tells us it's okay to be angry, but It also tells us to be careful in how we handle our anger.
Ephesians 4:26-27 (The Message)
26-27Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
This week in my Bible Study, we also discussed anger and the appropriateness of that emotion. One of the ladies who attends told us how one of her high school coaches use to explain being angry to them. The coach told them (I'm paraphrasing here) there's a difference in being angry and being mad.....if you are angry, it is a controlled emotion. A feeling you get, but a feeling that you should be able to sit down, take a deep breath and think about how to handle it before you react. Being mad is not a controlled emotion....it's flying off the handle, reacting before you think, oftentimes doing or saying something you might really regret.
The dictionary describes being mad as:
–adjective
1.mentally disturbed; deranged; insane; demented.2.enraged; greatly provoked or irritated; angry.3.(of animals)a.abnormally furious; ferocious: a mad bull.b.affected with rabies; rabid: a mad dog.4.extremely foolish or unwise; imprudent; irrational: a madscheme to invade France.
Sure there are times when we are going to be angry, but remember that The Bible instructs us not to sin in our anger, use our anger to fuel revenge, let the sun go down while we are angry, let the Devil get a foothold on us. Honestly if you remember these few verses next time someone cuts you off in traffic, doesn't clean their room, leaves their socks on the floor, or more extremely....hurts or wrongs someone you love; your anger can be just what it is intended to be....a rational emotion. Deal with your anger and then move on....forgive even if the person who wronged you doesn't know they've wronged you....forgive. Holding on to your anger is much more detrimental to you than to anyone else.
"I do," he said. "I am angry enough to die."
26-27Go ahead and be angry. You do well to be angry—but don't use your anger as fuel for revenge. And don't stay angry. Don't go to bed angry. Don't give the Devil that kind of foothold in your life.
This week in my Bible Study, we also discussed anger and the appropriateness of that emotion. One of the ladies who attends told us how one of her high school coaches use to explain being angry to them. The coach told them (I'm paraphrasing here) there's a difference in being angry and being mad.....if you are angry, it is a controlled emotion. A feeling you get, but a feeling that you should be able to sit down, take a deep breath and think about how to handle it before you react. Being mad is not a controlled emotion....it's flying off the handle, reacting before you think, oftentimes doing or saying something you might really regret.
The dictionary describes being mad as:
–adjective
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