Huge Hope: Major Power in the Minor Prophetsنموونە

Have you ever been mad at God?

Sure, who hasn’t?

Have you ever been mad at God because He did what He said He would do after you obeyed Him and blessed a whole city by bringing them to redemption?

Jonah was.

Most of us know the story of Jonah and the whale (though in scripture it’s referred to as a “great fish”), but have you ever learned it past the point where Jonah repents, the fish spits him out onto dry land, and he goes to do what God told him to do in the first place?

Jonah gets mad!

He preaches the message of repentance to the city of Nineveh, and they listen to him and turn away from their wickedness! They repent and return to God! And Jonah is MAD about it! SO MAD that he wants God to KILL HIM.

“I knew that you were a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from punishment. And now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.” (Jonah 4:2b-3)

Imagine being so mad about someone else’s good fortune that you want to die. Actually, maybe you’ve been there. Maybe you’ve seen unfairness in seeing other people prosper when, to you, it feels like they don’t deserve it. Maybe you can relate to Jonah.

But when we take on this kind of posture, we aren’t doing anything other than poisoning ourselves. God is going to do what God wants to do, and we can either join Him on the ride or petulantly stick our heels into the mud and pout.

Let’s just trust God and rejoice. He knows what He’s doing, and all things will be made right in His time.

Don’t get mad. Get on God’s timeline!