“Is It Right For You To Be Angry?” (Jonah 4:4)
Spiritual Questions with Scriptural Answers.
As human beings, we all struggle with controlling our anger.
For some, it is as easy as “counting to ten,” but for others, it can be extremely difficult to control anger. The Bible teaches that we will be angry, but we must not allow that anger to fester and lead to sin:
“Be angry, and do not sin. Meditate within your heart on your bed, and be still. Selah” (Psa. 4:4).
The Apostle Paul quotes from this text in discussing the conduct of the “new man,” and adds an important phrase:
“Be angry, and do not sin”: do not let the sun go down on your wrath, nor give place to the devil” (Eph. 4:26-27).
The devil would love for you to get so angry and fed up that you give into temptation and sin. We have to fight against the anger that leads to sin!
A “Righteous Indignation.”
With that being said, there is another kind of anger we read about in the Scriptures known as “righteous indignation.” The Psalmist was angry at sin and said, “Through Your precepts I get understanding; Therefore I hate every false way” (Psa. 119:104, 128).
Jesus, Who never committed sin, was angry at how the people were treating His Father’s house:
“So they came to Jerusalem. Then Jesus went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in the temple, and overturned the tables of the money changers and the seats of those who sold doves. And He would not allow anyone to carry wares through the temple. Then He taught, saying to them, “Is it not written, ‘My house shall be called a house of prayer for all nations’? But you have made it a ‘den of thieves” (Mark 11:15-17; cf. 1 Pet. 2:22; Heb. 7:26).
The child of God is to love what God loves and hate what God hates. He or she is to not find satisfaction and give approval to that which God despises and rejects.
Jonah’s Anger.
The prophet Jonah allowed his anger to lead to a sinful attitude.
God commissioned Jonah to go to Nineveh to preach a message of repentance to that ungodly nation. Jonah, rejecting the will of God, tried to run away from God but to no avail (Jon. 1). After God prepared a great fish to swallow and then spit out Jonah, He repeated His charge: “Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you” (Jon. 3:1-2).
Jonah reluctantly went and delivered an eight-word sermon: “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown” (Jon. 3:4). The people repented as God “saw their works” and thus refrained from delivering His wrath (at that time).
As a prophet of God, one would expect that the repentance of those in Nineveh would have brought Jonah great joy, but it did not. In fact, he was extremely angry:
“But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live” (Jon. 4:1-3).
Respectfully, this prophet of God had a terrible attitude and did not have a godly response to what took place!
God then asked Jonah this question: “Is it right for you to be angry (Jon. 4:4)?” Was Jonah right for being angry? Was it “righteous indignation?” Not at all!
Jonah did want those wicked people to have an opportunity to be forgiven and yet God desires for ALL men to be saved and does not want ANYONE to be lost, but for all to come to repentance (1 Tim. 2:4; 2 Pet. 3:9).
We must be very careful not to allow anger to lead to sin (Jas. 1:13-15).
It is right to be upset at ungodliness because we recognize that it upsets God; however, vengeance belongs to God, not us (Rom. 12:17-19).
May we all work hard to control our anger and not allow it to grow into sin.
Drew Suttles is a minister for the Quitman church of Christ in Quitman, Georgia, and one of my best friends in this world. They live-stream all their Bible classes and sermons on their YouTube channel.
Drew also hosts the “Weathering the Storm” podcast on the Scattered Abroad Network. Drew talks about facing life’s challenges as a child of God. His podcast will be a blessing to your life.
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