Leaders, do you do well to be angry?
In 2003, at the sentencing of Gary Ridgway, the Green River Killer who murdered at least 49 women and girls, victims’ families stood and unleashed years of anger. One mother declared, “I will never forgive him. He’s going to hell.” Another said, “Death is too good for you.” Then Robert Rule stepped to the microphone. Ridgway had strangled his 16-year-old daughter to death.
Rule said: “Mr. Ridgway, there are people here who hate you. I’m not one of them. I forgive you. God says to forgive all. So, you are forgiven, sir. I pity you.”1
In that moment, the killer wept.
Likewise, in Jonah 4 a servant of God burns with anger at God’s mercy. However, Jonah is not angry at the pagans who deserve judgment. He is angry at the God who forgave them. Leaders, we know this temptation. We pour ourselves into difficult members who keep falling into the same sins, despite our counsel. We invest in staff and those we’re discipling who grow lax, or loved ones that drain our energy. When God doesn’t immediately work the way we want in their lives, we get aggravated and angry. We may even secretly (or perhaps vocally) want them to get what is coming to them. We want justice for them, but mercy for ourselves. But God confronts Jonah with a sharp question that is relevant for all His ambassadors: “Do you do well to be angry?” (Jonah 4:4).
God Shows Mercy to the Undeserving
God shows His mercy to even the violent men and women of Nineveh. And He pities them and forgives them. God is patient with the undeserving, people like the Ninevites, like Jonah, and like our difficult church family. But leaders, we must replace our selfishness with compassion. Jonah is extremely displeased with God’s decision to spare the Ninevites, viewing it as unjust and unfair. They had a track record of sin. God is aware of their wickedness, yet mercifully pardons them. God’s grace upon the people sent Jonah into a rage.
Leaders, God is, like Jonah professes: “A gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster” (Jonah 4:2b). Jonah is displeased with God’s character. He knows a lot about God. Jonah’s mind is stuffed with good theology that his heart is unwilling to submit. Jonah says, “For me, give me mercy!” and for them, “Give them justice!” In verse 3, Jonah would rather die than see these people live. Jonah is frustrated and even depressed with the grace that God gives to the Ninevites. Jonah has these depressed feelings multiple times (v. 3, 8-9). But in verse 4, God asks Jonah a simple question, if he does well to be angry. God wants to correct Jonah, to teach him, to bring him back to reason. Jonah is stuck in his feelings. God asks him to assess his anger. It’s as if God is saying, “Are you justifiably angry?”
Jonah does not seem to have an answer for God in verse four, or at least, not one that Scripture records.
Jonah’s Selfish Anger
Leaders, you might think you are not like Jonah. But consider: Jonah’s got this selfish anger burning because God did not do what he wanted Him to do concerning the salvation of others.
Jonah accepts God’s salvation from the fish. He accepts the Lord’s salvation for himself, but he does not want the Ninevites to have it. But oh, leaders, God is so patient with even His most difficult children. He will even teach His prophet a lesson. He comes after Jonah with mercy and instruction.
Deprived of his last comfort, Jonah loses it completely (9). God then asks him the same question, “Do you do well to be angry for the plant?” The last time God asked Jonah this, Jonah gave no answer. Now he answers defiantly: “Yes, I do well to be angry, angry enough to die!” Our God commands the sea, the fish, the plants, the worm, and the wind. The God of the Bible upholds the world in His power. He orchestrates. He commands. He knows what is happening in your ministries and your homes. These “frustrating” people that you must work with, or minister to, God knows them and their sin. Yet He has saved them anyway. But before you rush to anger, remember that God knows you, as well.
Jonah’s got this selfish anger burning because God did not do what he wanted Him to do concerning the salvation of others.
Our God is not the deist god, a clockmaker who sets things going and forgets them. No, Yahweh cares. He cares for souls, and He cares about the feelings of His ambassadors towards those He has saved. So, he asks Jonah about his feelings: “Do you do well to be angry?”
Jonah showed sympathy over a plant and not over souls. Think about that. Do we care more for our comfort than for souls? If we want to be an effective servant of God, we must have changed hearts. And it will require us to step out of our comfort zones.
Practical Lessons for Leaders
Why does Jonah matter for leaders today?
First, check your anger, your frustration, your irritation. You see God multiple times asking Jonah, “Do you do well to be angry?” Leaders, let’s learn from the example of Jonah. Is it good that you’re allowing these feelings about God’s people to drive your behavior? When you said Jesus is your Lord, do you also mean that He has the right to rule your feelings? Brothers and sisters, do not be ruled by your feelings. Let God handle your feelings, for the sake of His people. The emotions of anger and frustration may have a place in the bus of your life, but they are not allowed in the driver’s seat.
Second, like Jonah, we get so happy, “exceedingly glad (v. 6), ” when blessings come, and we get angry when they’re taken away (v. 9). When God removes our comforts, it often reveals our selfishness. Likewise, when things get hard in your ministries—funds are not there, a trusted friend has disqualified himself from ministry, or any other number of setbacks—learn dependence on God and let Him teach you compassion. Recognize that the Giver is our prize, not just the gifts. And if He takes them, He’s teaching you. Even if your heart rises up in anger and displeasure, when your comforts are removed, still say, “Yet, Lord, I trust Your plan.”
Christ, the Better Jonah
Because God is patient with the undeserving, we must replace selfishness with compassion. Forgive others completely, not like Jonah, but like our faithful Christ. God saved Jonah from the fish and from his disobedience. Jonah accepts God’s grace but when God pours it out on others, Jonah protests. But our Christ does not refuse to show compassion on those the Father calls. Jesus says, “All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never cast out” (John 6:37).
Do we think, like Jonah, that we are the only ones who deserve God’s grace? If you are saved, remember this: you did nothing to earn the grace you received. You were disobedient before grace. You fail after grace. And it is the grace of Christ that keeps you. Christ’s blood is strong enough to save men and women and children… fully. He pays the penalty of the sinner from the moment of their birth to their last breath. It is His grace that keeps that person forever.
The Ninevites’ mercy rests only on the mercy of God. They had a prophet sent to them, but we have something greater than Jonah. We have the Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the greatest prophet. Jonah went to one city. They received mercy and Jonah disliked it. Jesus, the better prophet, goes to every tribe, tongue, and nation and saves multitudes. And Christ has entrusted a portion of those multitudes to your care and leadership. Jesus Christ is far better. He cares for the ones He came to save, and sacrificed everything for His people. He obeyed His holy mission from the Father.
Jonah was selfish. Jesus was selfless.
Because God is patient with the undeserving, we must replace selfishness with Christ’s compassion.
Jesus took the form of a slave. He took the form of a human (Philippians 2:7). He went to the grave to pay for His people. He gave His worldly comforts for them. He even gave up His life out of compassion for them. Jesus said of His life, “Foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matt 8:20).
We are taught from Jonah 4 that God is patient with Jonah, and cares for Jonah’s disposition toward those who are saved. Because God is patient with the undeserving, we must replace selfishness with Christ’s compassion.
- Robert Rule, victim impact statement at Gary Ridgway sentencing, December 18, 2003, quoted in “Green River Victim’s Family Finds Peace in Forgiveness,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, December 19, 2003, https://www.seattlepi.com/seattlenews/article/green-river-victim-s-family-finds-peace-in-1132659.php ↩︎
