Do you know why I love the story of Jonah?” I had preached from the book of Jonah about God’s heart for the world and now was shaking hands with people as they were leaving the service. Dan periodically offered a comment that kept me humble. “I love Jonah because it tells me of a preacher who was in touch with his anger!” Not a word about the world dying without hope or God’s compassion for the lost. Just a backdoor remark about preachers having trouble with anger. I felt myself joining the company of Jonah! The book of Jonah is the story of a God who longs to show radical grace. But it is also the story of a preacher who is angry and aware of it. Is there a reason these two themes are brought together? After some reflection, I have come to believe the two are intertwined. The message is this: Unhealthy, unresolved anger is the experience of those who do not truly share God’s heart or submit to God’s hand. There is a healthy anger that is resolved in appropriate ways. Jesus was angry with the Pharisees. Paul was angry with the Judaizers. But anger is Do you know why I love the story of Jonah?” I had preached from the book of Jonah about God’s heart for the world and now was shaking hands with people as they were leaving the service. Dan periodically offered a comment that kept me humble. always dangerous and often damaging. Jonah’s experience gives me a template for evaluating my anger. Here is what I am learning.
I must prayerfully examine my frustrated expectations.
Jonah was a prophet to the nation of Israel, but God disrupted his ministry. He told Jonah to preach a message of mercy to Israel’s most feared enemy. The Ninevites had tortured, plundered, and killed God’s people. Jonah thought they should be judged. But he suspected God might be merciful, and mercy didn’t fit into Jonah’s hopes for his enemy. When the Ninevites repented of their sin and God relented of his judgment, Jonah became angry (4:1). Frustrated expectations lead to anger. I know what this feels like. I have many stories in my “frustration file.” I recall a family that I introduced to Christ. I spent hours teaching them what it means to follow Christ and helped them get established in church. Our connection grew deep, and I thought we would have many years of friendship and fellowship in the church family. But within a couple of years they had left, upset over something that seemed insignificant to me. I was hurt. I was angry.
Anger springs up in my soul when my expectations are frustrated. That is why I must assess the validity and intensity of my expectations. God forced Jonah to do this. In chapter four, Jonah became angry because he lost his physical comfort. A worm ate the vine that was providing shade. The sun scorched Jonah as he waited in anger to see what would become of Nineveh. God asked if his anger was justified. Jonah felt it was, but God felt differently. The conversion of a pagan city should have been much more important to Jonah than his personal comfort. Until he shared God’s heart, Jonah would experience an anger that was damaging his soul. I have longings and desires. Are they the longings and desires of the sovereign, righteous, gracious God? Unfortunately, my expectations often seem more easily and quickly influenced by culture and comfort than by Christianity. I want ministry success. My culture defines success mostly in terms of larger budgets and more constituents. How does Christianity define and determine success? I want emotional and relational comfort. How does this fit with the cross of Christ? Spiritually unhealthy expectations give rise to spiritually unhealthy anger. That is why I must form expectations that are consistent with the gospel. To form expectations wisely, I must see the big picture that God sees. I need to see that my comfort (as legitimate as it is) is not as important as some other things in God’s kingdom. The prophet Isaiah “saw the Lord,” and it changed his expectations (Isa. 6). The apostle Paul saw Christ and prayed for believers everywhere, “I pray… that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened” (Eph. 1:18). I must prayerfully consider my expectations.
I must honestly confront my foolish strategies.
Jonah’s anger put him into a downward spiral. Anger clouded his thinking. Instead of obeying God’s call, he “paid the price of the ship” (the Hebrew suggests he chartered the boat, rather than simply paying a fare). He headed 2,500 miles west instead of 600 miles east. He lost his testimony with the sailors and eventually wound up in the belly of a fish. His foolish strategy of running from God cost him dearly. I can relate. A few years ago my anger cost me the opportunity to share the gospel with a man because I inappropriately questioned his ability to umpire my son’s Little League baseball game. Following Christ is costly. But refusing to follow him costs even more. I must honestly total the bills that accumulate from my foolish strategies. Much of the cost may initially be hidden. How much joy is missed because of anger turned inward? How much peace is missed because I do not share God’s heart for people? I must make the time to do the math. And after honestly confronting the cost of my strategies, I must do what Christ did. He submitted himself to God. Facing the cross, he prayed, “If it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will” (Matt. 26:39). To the extent that I resent the values of God’s kingdom and resist his will for my life, I will pay a high price for my foolish strategies. A word of warning on this point: I have found that the greater my anger is, the harder it is for me to determine its true cost. That is scary. If my anger is not checked, it could lead to decisions that put me in debt for the rest of my life. No wonder Paul warned us to not let the sun set on our anger! (Eph. 4:26)
I must completely repent of my false securities.
Jonah fell into a “deep sleep” in the bottom of the boat, oblivious to reality (the Hebrew indicates he was in a trancelike state). The wind and waves didn’t affect him. For a while, life was OK. But God loved Jonah too much to leave him out of touch with life. God sent a captain to awaken him, sailors to hurl him, a fish to swallow him, a worm to annoy him, and the sun and wind to burn him. The security of a desperado is always an illusion. I’ve experienced the same thing. My foolish strategies (spending or eating too much, counting on ministry success to boost my ego) have often proved effective in soothing pain. They have often allowed me to deny my anger. They have often given me a false security. But I have not been able to ignore God’s Word too long. God has used my anger as a window into my soul. Through it I am discovering where my agenda is still controlling my decisions. For this insight, I am thankful. But insight will prove ineffective without an unconditional surrender to Christ. Paul said, “I die every day” (1 Cor. 15:31). I must totally abandon my false securities if I am going to share God’s heart and submit to his hand.
Do you know what I’ve come to love about the Jonah story? That God’s grace was deep enough to spare the repentant Ninevites and wide enough to repair an angry preacher. This has encouraged me to be in touch with my anger, so that I will know how to be more in touch with the heart of God.
James E. Cofield, Th.M., has served for more than four Spiritually unhealthy expectations give rise to spiritually unhealthy anger.
