But the Lord replied, “Is it right for you to be angry?” Jonah had gone out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city. Then the Lord God provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort, and Jonah was very happy about the plant. But at dawn the next day God provided a worm, which chewed the plant so that it withered. When the sun rose, God provided a scorching east wind, and the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint. He wanted to die, and said, “It would be better for me to die than to live.” But God said to Jonah, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” “It is,” he said. “And I’m so angry I wish I were dead.”

I work in risk management and we put on a seminar called Wildfire Risk: Lessons Learned from the Cal Fires.  These fires happened just four months ago. My colleague was from California, worked for Cal Fire, and found himself near two of these fires. He was blessed not to have any damage to his home. But he definitely saw smoke plumes over the hill he backed up to.

Everyone listened with intent as he spoke, because not only did he have the fire credentials and a career safeguarding property from fire, but he also had real life experience. One thing he said stood out to me — the wind can blow embers from the fire up to a mile away. And these embers can get in the eaves or gutters of a home and smolder there for a while before suddenly igniting in a fire. The advice was to watch carefully and clean these areas out as much as possible.

Jonah had repented of his sin. He had gone and been obedient to God and preached to the Ninevites. Why was he not happy for their new-found faith? Why was he not celebrating their salvation with God?

Anger is also like the element of fire. It burns, then it gets put out, but if we let the embers stay around in areas of our heart, another fire can erupt.

We see here that a foothold was left in Jonah’s heart for anger; an ember, so to speak, still lived there and was never completely put out. He obeyed God, but later his heart turned again and was angry. In fact, he went out each day as a spectator to see the ensuing judgement he hoped would come on the Ninevites. (It is like he was demanding judgement from God here).  When it did not come and he did not get the retribution for their evil acts from God he felt he deserved, he became very angry.

And God does something very interesting with Jonah, while he was angry. He asks him why he is angry?

Since God did not get an immediate answer, he decided to use a living analogy to speak to Jonah. He provided a plant for shade and then the worm ate it and it withered and Jonah was angry at the loss of the plant for shade.  God asked him again, “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” Jonah had hit rock bottom and said, “Yes it is.”

Jonah was clearly lost in the “elixir of anger”. He justified it in his own mind. It burned inside him to keep him warm, and though at times he put the fire of anger out, he did not do it completely and embers or coals still burned and reignited. He was leaving these embers and coals ready to attach themselves to the next thing he could find to be angry about, no matter how ridiculous it was. And God needed him to understand that his anger was not a problem of his circumstances, but his heart.

His anger also likely hurt the people around him. He preached to the Ninevites to repent, they did, and then he was still angry at them. What model of God’s unconditional love was he setting for these new converts?

I have seen my anger smolder, waiting for an opportunity to flare, at times throughout my life. Not until the last couple of years did I take full responsibility for my heart condition and repent. Circumstances do not reignite my self-righteous anger anymore. I now trust God instead of allowing anger a foothold. Maybe anger has been a challenge for you too?  How will you deal with the embers of anger to truly be free of it?

Lord, thank you for this very powerful lesson you taught Jonah about how our anger controls us, moves us into ridiculous decisions that hurt others, and separates our hearts from your heart. Help me to put out any embers of anger and trust you in all things. Help me to model your unconditional love to those who hurt me.