Jonah got angry with God because he wanted God to feel about those foreign Assyrians the same way he did. What God wanted from Jonah was that he would come to feel about the Assyrians the same way He did. Jonah really knew that God was “gracious and compassionate”, but wanted Him to wipe out these foreigners with a great calamity. Jonah became angry because God would not rain wrath down on them. But, where would this old disobedient prophet be if God had dealt with him in that same way? Why do we want grace for ourselves and not for others?
“When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He would bring upon them. And He did not do it…But it greatly displeased Jonah and he became angry. He prayed to the LORD and said, “Please LORD, was not this what I said while I was still in my own country? Therefore in order to forestall this I fled to Tarshish, for I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness, and one who relents concerning calamity” Jonah 3:10; 4:1-2 (NASB).
