Jonah 4:4 reads, “But the Lord replied, ‘Have you any right to be angry?’”

Through the Holy Spirit’s leading, our pastor has shed a completely new and enlightening teaching on Jonah for me. Jonah was angry because God chose mercy and repentance for an evil people who repented. We know their repentance was genuine because God chose to forgive them, in spite of their evil.

Have you ever been angry with someone for a wrong, and then God forgave them, and you couldn't? Matthew 6:14-15 makes it clear we are to forgive like our Father does. What is it in us that wants to see others “straightened out,” but we are blind to our own shortcomings ?

When I read Jonah 4:4, another Bible passage came to mind. Oddly, it was Romans 9 where Paul was explaining God’s will working out in our lives. The first part of verse 20 stood out to me when I thought of Jonah’s attitude. It's not exactly in the context, but it's truth. “But who are you , O man, to talk back to God?” Who are we to say anything about where God shows His forgiveness? We need it ourselves. Our God is a Holy, Righteous, Loving, Merciful, and Forgiving God. I can testify to this, because He has shown it to me over and over. I am thankful our Savior shows this love to all of us.

My prayer is that I can see all people the way God does. Walking in the flesh this is impossible, but walking in the Spirit, all things are possible.