But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he was very angry. — Jonah 4:1
There have been many times in my life when things did not go as I wanted them to. I remember when I was younger I was excited about building model cars and rockets. There were many times that I was working on building one of the models, but I remember that I messed it up as I put it together.
Perhaps I didn’t put the glue in the right place. Maybe the paint wasn’t smooth like I wanted. Sometimes, I remember that I broke a part as I tried to put it into place. I had planned for the car to come out just the way I wanted, but it didn’t. It would upset me and frustrate me to the point I would become angry with myself.
Life certainly isn’t all about model cars or rockets. But we all make plans for our lives. We want to see things turn out a certain way. When that doesn’t happen, it can be easy to become angry. Sometimes, we even want to become angry with God.
Jonah believed he knew exactly how things should turn out in Nineveh. He believed they deserved God’s judgment. When they repented, he became angry. So angry that he asked God to just take his life. This was not how he wanted things and if this was how it was going to be, he was done!
Things will not always go as we think they should. But God has the ultimate plan. Rather than getting angry when things don’t go as we want, we should trust in God’s plan. God doesn’t want us to sit down and give up like Jonah did. Instead, He expects us to have faith and trust Him with all our hearts.
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