In between wrangling my pint sized person and her favorite 4 legged friend, I took some time to read the One Year Bible I started the beginning of the year. (If you haven't ever read through the Bible please do, I promise you will be blessed!) As I was reading in Jonah I found myself struck by the compassion and mercy of God in comparison to the anger expressed by Jonah. In the age of social media, we live in a culture that thrives on anger and outrage. So often someone will post something they are angered about. Then another person responds with their outrage about the initial outrage. The next thing you know people are reacting, sharing, and then media personalities are arguing about it on Fox News and The View. It's like this crazy rollercoaster ride we are on that never stops. I just don't know that God wants His people on the rollercoaster. And I confess I can be so guilty of staying on loop after loop!
Jonah's story is pretty well known, but here is a quick run down. God's judgment was about to come upon the people of Nineveh for their evil actions and God sent Jonah to let them know what was coming. The people heard God's message from Jonah, called out to God, and turned from their evil ways. One might think Jonah would be excited his work ended with such great results, not the case. Jonah became angry with God. He believed Nineveh deserved to be destroyed for their disobedience. This is ironic considering God had just shown much patience and mercy to Jonah after he went on quite the disobedient spree himself. (Jonah 1-3) (Maybe it's just me, but I can so relate to Jonah here. I know I am guilty of judging other people's disobedience more harshly than my own. Other's sins just always seems so much worse than our own, don't they?) While Jonah was sitting in his anger God used the time to teach him a lesson in compassion (Jonah 4). The book ends with God saying this to Jonah, "Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city (Jonah 4:11)?"
Shouldn't we feel sorry for such people? We can be so quick to get angry or outraged over the sin of others. It probably doesn't take a long scroll on your newsfeed to do this yourself or see others expressing their anger. I am definitely not saying there is no place for justified outrage. Proverbs 6:16-19 list 7 things God detests: "haughty eyes, a lying tongues, hands that kill the innocent, a heart that plots evil, feet that race to do wrong, a false witness who pours out lies, a person who sows discord in a family." There is a lot I can think of in our world that could fit these categories that can get our blood pumping. I can only imagine what was going on in Nineveh for God to almost judge them with destruction. The thing is, how often do we feel sorrow for those living in "spiritual darkness?" or as another translations of the Bible (ESV) says those that "do not know their right hand from their left." Do we see how blinded to truth people can be and feel sorrow? Or are we eager to react and share our anger with others to the point of someone's or a group of people's destruction?
Jonah declares that God is a "merciful and compassionate God, slow to get angry and filled with unfailing love" and "eager to turn back from destroying people (Jonah 4:2)." If we are living our lives following God through faith in Jesus we cannot neglect mercy and compassion. We ourselves have been shown so much in Jesus! We should be eager to not see people destroyed in their disobedience as God did not destroy us in our own. "God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us (Romans 5:8)."
I fear that social media in particular can fuel anger and outrage quickly. Perhaps sometimes we (totally talking to myself here!) need to take a step back, hit the off button, or put down the phone. We need to take a moment to feel sorrow for those who don't follow the Truth. We do not understand this Truth simply because we are better or more intelligent than someone else. Let's not forget God has graciously opened our eyes to it (Ephesians 1:18). I pray we can find ways to show compassion to those who do not even "know their right hand from their left." If we are the children of God seeking to follow His example, let's be known more for our eagerness to show mercy than for an eagerness to bring about destruction. As Paul urged the Ephesians, I pray that we can "be imitators of God, as beloved children. And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave Himself up for us (Ephesians 5:1-2)." Please, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, let's be slow to anger and react from faith in the One who has called us out of darkness and into His marvelous light (1 Peter 2:9), not from the endless rollercoaster of anger and outrage in our feeds.