WHAT CAUSES YOU TO BECOME ANGRY AND HOW DO YOU HANDLE IT?

SCRIPTURE:
But the LORD replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?”
(Jonah 4:4)

MEDITATION:
The scriptures tell us about Jonah becoming angry.
But who was the target of his anger? It was Almighty God!
And why was he angry with God?
Jonah hated the people of Nineveh 
and God had spared them because they repented.

Jonah was mad because God had shown His compassion, love and graciousness.
He prayed to the LORD, “Isn’t this what I said, LORD, when I was still at 
home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing 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. (Jonah 4:2)

When we read about his anger toward God, we want to scratch our heads and say, 
“Jonah, don’t you realize that God has done a good thing? 
Why in the world would this make you mad?”
Even though Jonah’s preaching (in obedience to God’s command) 
caused them to repent, he was so mad that he felt it was better 
to die than to live with the anger burning inside him.
Now, LORD, take away my life, for it is better for me to die than to live.” 
(Jonah 4:3)

Jonah had forgotten (or ignored) an important characteristic of God.
He is not a God of favoritism, 
so if He showed compassion to the people of Nineveh,
then this same compassion was available to Jonah, in spite of his anger.

The people of Nineveh repented of their evilness 
and now it was time for Jonah to get over his anger.
God was trying to help him by asking Jonah a simple question,
“Is it right for you to be angry?”

All of us have a latent temper that can become overt at any moment.
We are all different and our anger can have varying degrees of intensity.
But, how does God feel about our anger?
He doesn’t ask us to get rid of our temper, 
however He does expect us to bring it under control.
And if we expect to be happy, 
then we need to learn to control it and channel it correctly.

For instance, a believer could be expected to become angry 
when he or she sees injustice, or the godless ways people 
trade away the souls and bodies through human trafficking. 
The world tries to convince us to practice tolerance, but whenever anything 
is in conflict with God’s Will, we have to dig in our heels and take a stand.

Jesus showed His anger when others were desecrating the House of God.
Jesus entered the temple courts and drove out all who were buying and 
selling there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the 
benches of those selling doves. (Matthew 21:12)

ACTION:
How are you controlling your temper?
Have you ever been angry toward God 
because something happened to you (or someone else) that you did not like?
If so, did you feel that God entered your name on His “bad list”?

If you are a believer, never forget that God loves you, 
understands your emotions, and is compassionate and gracious toward you.
The challenge for you is to look past your anger and learn to
consider and appreciate the goodness of what God is doing.
Also, learn to channel your temper so that you will not allow the world 
to convince you to compromise God’s principles in the spirit of tolerance.

Pray,
“Heavenly Father, forgive me for the times I have allowed my anger to be 
directed toward You. In my heart of hearts, I know that You are a loving 
Father who is filed with goodness and love. Whenever things do not go my 
way, help me to look past my own ideas of how things should be, and learn 
to appreciate how everything You do is filled with goodness. Teach me to 
bring my temper under control so that when I am disappointed or upset, I 
will look past my feelings and try to understand Your Will in all things.”