ANGER’S INTENSITY

Jonah preached one of the shortest (fellow preachers take note) and most successful sermons in the history of preaching, and an entire city was rocked to its foundations by his prophetic onslaught. You’d think he’d be happy. On the contrary, he was incensed. The writer here is keen for us to know just how upset with God Jonah was. He was outraged, just like the prophet Jeremiah.

First of all, there’s a literary device used here called a figura etymologia. This is a double emphasis used frequently throughout the book of Jonah to show just how intense something was. So, the terrified sailors ‘feared a great fear’, Jonah was called to ‘proclaim the proclamation’ and now he was ‘angry with a great anger’. Take it from me. He’s very upset.

Read

Jeremiah 20:7-18

Jonah 4:1

Then there’s the use of the word ‘great’ again. As we have seen, it is a favourite word in this book: Nineveh was a great city, the fish was great – so was the storm, and furious Jonah’s anger was great too. It was also all-consuming, enough to make him ignore God and be tired of living. He even prayed for death twice (Jonah 4:3,9).

Focus

‘Lord, you tricked me, and I was tricked. You overpowered me and won.’

Jeremiah 20:7

I’ve spelled all this out because some of us are so utterly consumed with rage against God, we are tempted to think there’s no way back. The fact that we’re reading these words is nothing short of a miracle, because, generally, we aren’t on speaking terms right now. Know that this white-knuckled man has just been an instrument to shake a city. Why don’t we start counting ourselves in again?

Prayer: Help me to run to You, and not from You, when frustration and even rage fuels my heart. Amen.

ANGER: HIJACKED LOVE

WED 13 SEPT Christians can be adept at arguing. I’ve seen too many churches systemically torn apart by division, often over the pettiest issues. I used to put this down to nothing more than selfishness and immaturity, then I noticed that some of the angriest protagonists were those most involved in the life of the church. Far from being indifferent, they raged because they cared very deeply.

READ

Matthew 21:12-17,

Jonah 4:1

Focus

Jesus entered the temple area. He began chasing out all those who were buying and selling there.

Matthew 21:12 lifewithlucas.co.uk/

As we’ve seen, that’s why Jonah was frustrated in Nineveh. Ancient rabbis taught that Jonah would have seen a response to God in Nineveh as an event that would shame stubborn Israel, and so Jonah preferred death to national shame.

Anger isn’t always wrong – God Himself gets angry (there are over eighty references to this in Scripture) because He cares. T.S. Eliot reminds us that God’s anger is ‘the unfamiliar name' for His love. So Hosea speaks of God’s compassion and fierce anger together (Hosea 11:8-9). Jesus was angered by the leathery, stubborn hearts of the Pharisees, and was more than a little upset when He kicked over the tables of the extortioners in the Temple.

Are we feeling incensed about what’s happening in our churches? Perhaps lines have been drawn, and harsh words are being lobbed back and forth. Let’s press the pause button: our genuine passion and concern may have nudged us into anger that has little to do with being righteous. And perhaps we’ve started to view the church as ‘our church’, when we need to be reminded that the Church belongs to Him alone.

Prayer: Father, may I never become the victim of unhealthy intensity. Help me to care about what matters to You. Amen.

Lament

There was an old hymn that included a line that troubled me: ‘Now I am happy all the day’. The problem? I wasn’t. And although there are some bright souls who apparently grin their way unceasingly through even the darkest valleys, I don’t really believe that anyone is permanently thrilled. That’s why the songs we sing in worship need to be diverse, and not always focused on victory and joy. The heroes of the Bible were certainly not happy all the day; two of the most frequent prayers in the Psalms are ‘Why?’ and ‘How long?’

Read

Jonah 4:2

Psalm 38:1-22

Perhaps we need to learn to sing songs of lament (although I’m not sure how that works – the worship leader inviting the congregation to stand and sing ‘Let’s all be fed up together’ seems unlikely...) More seriously, lament is about grief, and we can and must be honest with God in prayer about our grieving. When I’m sad or angry, my prayers can deteriorate into little more than hollow speeches. I tell God what I think He wants me to say. When this happens, I sense a yawn in heaven: the Lord is unimpressed by dishonest verbosity (Matt. 6:7).

Focus

‘He prayed to the Lord.’

Jonah 4:2

For all his weakness, Jonah did tell God what was really in his heart, even if it was ugly. He brought his frustration into his prayer experience. If we’re struggling, depressed, enraged, or disappointed, again, let’s tell God. He knows anyway, but calls us to the intimacy of being able to express our pain. Honesty before God can be a first step to understanding.

Prayer: On darker days, teach me to trust You. When You seem distant, help me pursue You. Always, help me to be truthful. Amen.