Jonah 4

"But it displeased Jonah exceedingly, and he became angry. So he prayed to the Lord, and said, “Ah, Lord, was not this what I said when I was still in my country? Therefore I fled previously to Tarshish; for I know that You are a gracious and merciful God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, One who relents from doing harm. Therefore now, O Lord, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live!” Then the Lord said, “Is it right for you to be angry?”  vv.1-4

Read chapter 4.

A prayer of praise but with bad attitude is Jonah's prayer here.  He recites God's character of being gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, yet Jonah's mad about that being displayed on the Nineveties.  "We may learn from this, that Jonah was naturally a man of a hasty, impatient temper; for he here shows himself to have been exceedingly vexed without any just cause. For it does not appear that the Ninevites would have despised him, or looked upon him as a false prophet" (Benson Commentary).  It's ok and good to go to God with your anger but not to think that God messed up or that you know better than the Lord. Jonah may have been mad and wanted his enemies to be punished, but we need remember that God is the God of them all and we should have grace on our enemies as He has shown grace to us.  Do you go to the Lord when you're angry?  What attitude is in your heart in comparison to your words?  How can you relate to Jonah?