Man's Self Focus and God's Relentless Compassion

Have you ever felt so angry that you couldn’t move forward? Maybe it was hard for you to obey God and to follow God’s plan in this moment. This is what Jonah experienced as he watched Nineveh, a city that he hated, repent. Jonah refused to extend mercy to the Ninevites, despite God’s mercy towards him. 

Jonah remains steadfast in his hard-heartedness and disobedience to the Lord. Despite God’s attempts to teach Jonah, he is too self-focused to see things from God's point of view. 

Anger might just be the barrier that's in the way of God's will being accomplished in your life today.  Jonah was too consumed with his hatred for Assyria to see the people of Nineveh as worthy of God's mercy. He was too self-focused on his preferences and his hatred. 

We don't have the right to question God and his will being done in our life. Yet, anger was the characteristic that caused Jonah to feel self-righteous. 

There are two types of anger I see operating at times in my life: 

The first type of anger is self-focused anger. The second kind of anger is righteous anger or righteous indignation. 

Righteous indignation is the kind of anger that we see in Jesus, for example, when he cleanses the temple. He was justified in his anger because their actions were offensive and dishonored God in the way they were making money in the temple. That’s righteous anger. 

Self-focused anger has you as its focus. You may feel it when somebody hurts you or offends you. Even if someone hurt or mistreated you, the Bible doesn’t say that we’re justified to get mad at them, to scream at them and to cuss them out. The Bible says that we are to love them and pray for them, even if they're our enemies. This isn't easy, but this is the way for the Christian. This is the call from God. 

Guard Against Bitterness

When you've been holding anger in your heart, it turns into bitterness. It becomes a burden you drag along with you every day. You may not see it physically, but bitterness and anger can place a barrier between you and all your relationships.  Memorize and use this scripture in response to even the least bit of anger in your life. 

James 1:19-20 Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak,slow to anger; for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.

Be quick to listen. Slow to speak. And slow to become angry. 

When somebody says something to make you upset, you may have a tendency to want to respond to them quickly to gain an edge over them. Instead, take a deep breath in and remember, “Be quick to listen. Be slow to speak and be slow to anger. “

Finally, when you are ready to respond, be calculated when you let those words fly, because words will hurt you. Sticks and stones may break your bones, but words last a lifetime. 

Recognize that your anger has done nothing for you.

The anger of man does not accomplish the righteousness of God. As a Christian, you have one job - and that is to allow the righteousness of God to be expressed in your life. If my anger is not bringing me closer to the will of God for my life, then there’s no reason for me to hold onto it. 

Self-righteous anger does nothing for you. It only takes things from you. Jonah was only focused on himself. It was all about what he wanted to do. It was all about his hatred towards Nineveh. It was all about his physical comfort and his physical pain. 

This pride is at the root of every sin, and it's definitely at the root of anger. When you find yourself angry, stop focusing on what you want and ask, What does God want? 

Show Compassion Over Anger

God would have been completely justified in being angry with Jonah, but God continues to show Jonah compassion. God does the same for us. Even when we deserved God's anger, he gave us mercy and compassion.

So ask yourself: How am I showing the world compassion when things don't go my way? How am I teaching my children compassion even when they fail to obey me?

 Am I teaching them compassion by showing them compassion? What does that teach them about anger? Sometimes I think I'm justified in my anger, but I have to ask myself, how am I teaching compassion to others? God teaches such gracious compassion by being relentless in his compassion to Jonah.