We can sinfully feel justified for harboring anger toward God. This happens when God operates in ways that are contrary to our expectations. The poster child for this in the Bible is Jonah.
I had the opportunity to preach on Jonah 4 this past summer, and I adressed the issue of anger toward God. The book that most clearly explained why it is a sin was the little book, Pierced by the Word, by John Piper. He writes:
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“Anger at sin is good (Mark 3:5), but anger at goodness is sin. That is why it is never right to be angry with God. He is always and only good, no matter how strange and painful His ways with us. Anger toward God signifies that He is bad or weak or cruel or foolish. None of those is true, and all of them dishonor Him. Therefore it is never right to be angry at God. When Jonah and Job were angry with God, Jonah was rebuked by God (Jonah 4:9) and Job repented in dust and ashes (Job 42:6).”
This is a guest post by Eric McKiddie. Eric blogs at pastoralized.com about doing pastoral work with theological rigor and practical efficiency. He serves as the Junior High Pastor at College Church in Wheaton, IL.
