Vince Deagler

hello again.  here’s the question for today…is it okay to be angry with god?  i know that is an unfair question without giving you a context, but what do you think.  as i see it, there are times when god seems to be okay with our anger.  jeremiah felt god had deceived him when he was called to his prophetic office, and it appears god indulged him (as opposed to immediately squashing that opinion).  the same is true of job isn’t it?  the more job’s misfortune lingered, the more frustrated he became with god.  there is chapter after chapter of job venting, questioning god, blaming god, accusing god of wrongdoing, wanting an audience with god, etc.  now i know god eventually confronted job, but he allowed job to spout off for quite some time before doing so.  joshua is another example.  after the defeat at ai he basically questioned whether god knew what he was doing, and pretty much blasted god as an incompetent.  yes god confronted and corrected, but there seems to be some degree of understanding and patience involved.

here is why i bring it up.  in our study of jonah, god has called jonah to preach against the wickedness of ninevah.  jonah refused.  he went as far and as fast as he could away from ninevah, boarding a ship bound for tarshish.  god persisted, brought a storm, revealed jonah to be the troublemaker, and had jonah swallowed by a great sea creature.  it was here god did some of his best work.  jonah submitted to gods control (not perfectly as we will see), and god had the fish spit him back on dry ground.  with that, god once again called jonah to preach to the ninevites.  this time he obeyed, and there was a citywide repentance that caused god to turn away from his intended judgment of that city.  this is where the anger comes in.

you would expect a prophet to have the heart of god, to be excited by a revival of this nature, wouldn’t you???  but with jonah we see the exact opposite reaction.  he is angered.  he barks at god…i knew it…i knew this is what you would do…this is why i ran…i didn’t want you to be compassionate on the ninevites, i wanted you to destroy them.  can’t you just see jonah venting.  but unlike jeremiah, job, or joshua, god immediately confronts jonah.  in jonah 4:4 god asks “do you have any right to be angry?”  hence the question, is it okay to be angry with god?

i have several thoughts on the matter.

1.  obviously, because god is god, because god is always right, because he is sovereign there is no room for anger on a positional level.  he is right, i am therefore wrong, case closed.

2.  but we have been invited into a personal, intimate relationship with him.  he may be perfect, we are not.  and our imperfection exists on every level.  we do not think correctly, feel correctly, behave correctly, hear correctly, speak correctly, etc.  so as we encounter the different experiences of life, we may not immediately understand what is happening.  we may feel god is being unfair.  should we keep that in?  pretend it doesn’t exist?  be phony?  or, should we communicate those feelings to god, and begin the work of transformation that always occurs in his presence.  that is how we are transformed.  not by living in denial and pretending all is well.  but communicating with god about what we are seeing, feeling, thinking, wanting, doing, etc. and allowing him to change us.  this is what god did to jeremiah, job, and joshua.  this is what he will do for jonah.  i believe he will do it for us as well, if we come to him and open up to him in an honest way.  this is the beauty of god…or at least one of the beautiful things about him.  he understands, he is patient, he is gentle, he puts up with us and nudges us along in our spiritual journey. 

3.  i think he was quick to confront jonah because of jonahs recent past (the whole fish episode that he was now backing off from), and how jonah was completely out of step with god.  jonah knew gods nature.  but jonah was about as far from god as humanly possible in his attitude.  he wanted ninevah to pay, not be spared.  his heart was cold.  that to me explains the urgency of gods confrontation.  jeremiah, although angry, wasn’t near as far from god as jonah.  jeremiah was frustrated with his lack of success and how he was perceived by the people of israel.  while conversing with god, even though he was venting, he was changed.  i love how he says god’s word burned like a fire within him that he was not able to contain, he had to speak out.  god in his wisdom knows when we need direct confrontation, and when we need to vent so that in the venting we will be changed.  jeremiah, job, joshua all were changed in that process.  god is gonna have to work on jonah some more. 

isn’t it great we have a god willing to do that.  he will never leave or forsake us, he is with us always.  so do not be afraid to speak openly and honestly with god.  have an open honest relationship with him.  because of our brokenness we will often misinterpret what’s happening in our life.  but as we come to god, as we interact with him, even if it amounts to venting, we are changed.  i have often mentioned to god how i thought things weren’t working out as they should.  usually by the end of that conversation, i have been changed.  so go ahead, be angry with god.  but in your anger do not sin.  instead go to god, talk it out.  i think you’ll find he has a way of transforming us when you do.  tell me what your thinking.  thanks for reading along.  blessings.  vince