Is it ok to be angry at God?

Jonah 4:1-3 Jonah’s complaint to God

Intro…VIDEO The Fray, "You found me"
• Is it ok to get angry at God?
• Most of us have had plenty of opportunities in our lives to be mad at God.
• Life doesn’t always go as we have planned it. In fact, there is often more to be confused about and even angry at in life then the things that make sense.
• Sometimes life just stinks.

Big Picture: The bible tells us to not let the sun go down on our anger. That applies to human relationship as well as our relationship to God.

• Yet anger is a God given human emotion.
• Ephesians 4:26-27
• Being a Christian is no guarantee of a happy life.
• I do believe God wants us to express all our emotions to him.
• It’s not like he doesn’t know what’s going on anyways…

Text: Jonah 4:1-3

v. 1 Jonah was greatly displeased and became angry (with God).
• Did Jonah have a right to be angry at God? (Yes and No…)
• It really comes down to Jonah’s immaturity and disobedience.
• Jonah was selfish, looking out for his own interests.
• He still hated the Ninevites. That’s something he needed to deal with.
• Jonah was like many of the Jews that did not want to share God’s message with Gentile nations.
• They had forgotten their original purpose as a nation, to be a blessing to the rest of the world. (Gen. 22:18)

It’s actually Biblical to be honest before God. Let’s look at a few examples.
• Psalm 13:1-6, 35:17-18, 42:9-11

So let’s say you are plenty mad at God for whatever reason. What to do?
• Read the Pslams…
• Many of the Psalms offer brutal honesty before God.
• When you are full of emotions, that is a great time to read the Psalms. You’ll relate to the lows and the highs of human emotion.
• We don’t want to make the mistake as Christians to fake it like everything is ok, just because we “trust in Jesus.”
• We DO trust in Jesus, but that doesn’t mean we won’t feel some pain and confusion as we go through life.
• It is better to get it all out and let God help us work through our feelings and learn how to deal with the problem.
• Confession is good for the soul…even when the confession is expressed in anger towards God.

v. 2 Jonah is again wrestling with God, just like he did at the beginning of the story.
• He ran from God out of disobedience, but also because he didn’t want to see God save his enemies.
• How could God save such a wicked people? Yet, that’s exactly what God specializes in…
• It’s like Johan doesn’t even realize what he’s saying here, “I know that you are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity.”
• Just because we may be mad at God, it doesn’t mean we need to abandon our relationship with him and forget all that we know about him.
• Think about those in your family, close friends etc. You disagree, fight and even get angry with them, right?
• Yet, you usually work it out and come back together.

v. 3 O Lord, take away my life.
• Jonah had run from the job of delivering God’s message of destruction to Nineveh, then he wanted to die because the destruction didn’t happen.
• O how quickly Jonah had forgotten God’s mercy for him when he was in the fish.
• Jonah may have been expressing the reality of breaking his vow in 2:9.
• In essence he’s saying, “I’d rather die than comply with your will.”
• Oh…that is a dangerous place to be.
• If we ever get to the point where we are fighting with God so much that we’d rather die than follow his will, we are in serious trouble.
• Being real with God, even angry at him can actually deepen your relationship with him.
• God is not obligated to give us anything, much less what we desire. We’re all sinners and the wages of sin is death (Romans 6:23), so they only thing we deserve from God – what our works merit – is death and judgment.
• That we don’t receive this from God is a testament to his abundant grace.
• Continual anger at God reflects an extreme lack of gratitude for what he has done.
• Yes, I know some of life’s situations seem dire, but once you’ve worked through the grieving process, there is much to be thankful for.

Conclusion:
• Jonah was angry because his will did not prevail; rather, God’s will did.
• Yes it’s ok to be angry at God initially, but not to stay angry.
• We need to come back to human relationships.
• In the same way that you don’t want to hold a grudge against someone, you should only be angry at God for a certain period of time.
• Otherwise you continually break that fellowship with God
• Job 19, 42:1-6

Of the 7 deadly sins, anger is possibly the most fun. To lick your wounds, to smack your lips over grievances long past, to roll over your tongue the prospect of bitter confrontations still to come, to savor to the last toothsome morsel both the pain you are given and the pain you are giving back--in many ways it is a feast fit for a king. The chief drawback is that what you are wolfing down is yourself. The skeleton at the feast is you.
Frederick Buechner,


































I found God On the corner of First and Amistad
I said, "Where you been?" He said, "Ask anything".

[Verse 2]
Where were you When everything was falling apart?
All my days Were spent by the telephone
That never rang And all I needed was a call
That never came To the corner of First and Amistad

[Chorus 1]
Lost and insecure You found me, you found me
Lyin' on the floor Surrounded, surrounded
Why'd you have to wait? Where were you? Where were you?
Just a little late You found me, you found me

[Verse 3]
In the end Everyone ends up alone
Losing her The only one who's ever known


I've been callin' For years and years and years and years
And you never left me no messages Ya never send me no letters
You got some kinda nerve Taking all I want


Surrounded, surrounded Why'd you have to wait?
Where were you? Where were you?

Just a little late You found me, you found me
Why'd you have to wait? To find me, to find me