Those who are angry
with God
Fr Varghese Parappuram
VC
"God said to Jonah,
‘Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?'
And he said, ‘Yes,
angry enough to die"' (Jon 4:9).
There are several people
who have been angry with God atleast on certain occasions. Some dare to
enter into a severe argument with him. Others may give vent to their anger
and blame him. There are those who even think that God is deceiving and
hoodwinking them.
Jacob is a middle-aged householder.
For years he has been in great financial straits. All this time, he has
been praying very ardently to God. He cannot, however, get any answer to
his prayer. He knows it is wrong to be angry with God. Yet Jacob cannot
but feel angry with God at times for not hearing his prayers.
Valsa has been praying for
several years that God may take away the habit of drinking from her husband.
Yet there has been no change whatever in the situation. There are moments
when intense despair and anger fill Valsa’s mind. Then she lashes out against
God and repents later.
Jobi has been engaged in
severe criticism of God and his ways for quite some time. His complaint
is that God deceives those who trust in him. During his school-days, he
had been very earnest in his prayers and devotional practices. Though he
passed all his exams, he has not been able to secure a good job. Days were
just dragging on. His companions, who were not as interested as he in prayer
and devotional practices, have somehow managed to find a footing somewhere.
How then can he refrain from getting angry with God!
He was angry with
God until death
There have always been people
who got angry with God. We can find such characters in the Bible also.
Jonah’s life was a perpetual
wrestling with God. If God told him to go to the right, he would turn to
the left. Finally, he went to Nineveh and preached to the people about
conversion. Those who heard him, repented of their sins and consequently
God cancelled the punishment he had planned to impose on them. Jonah did
not like this at all. He thought that his words did not have any weight
and he had become a victim of ridicule. He was, therefore, angry with God.
In order to open his inner
eye God made a plant to grow. It soon spread its shade over Jonah. But
it withered away as soon, leaving Jonah in a state of extreme anger. God
then asked Jonah, "Is it right for you to be angry about the bush?"
And Jonah said, "Yes, angry enough to die"(Jonah 4:9). Jonah’s mind
was brimming with anger at God who had made him an object of derision.
O God you have deceived
me
Jeremiah was another prophet
who became angry with God. He thought that God was deceiving him. He was
called to speak to the people about the impending doom and destruction.
No prophet who foretells destruction is accepted. People want to hear only
about blessings. Jeremiah thus became a hated and unwanted man. So he cried
out, "O Lord, you have enticed me and I was enticed; you have over powered
me, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughing stock all day long;
everyone mocks me"(Jer 20:7-8).
God would not divest him
of the prophetic role which had brought him only contempt and ridicule.
"If I say, ‘I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name’ then
within me there is something like a burning fire shut up in my bones; I
am weary with holding it in, and I cannot'" (Jer 20:9).
Even Abraham, the father
of believers, had difficulty to believe in and accept God’s promises. When
standing within the narrow confines of one’s own thought, it is not possible
to understand the plans and ordinances of God. God, therefore, asks the
doubting Abraham to step out. "He brought him outside and said, ‘Look
towards heaven and count the stars, if you are able to count them. So shall
your descendants be'" (Gen15:5-6).
Job was engaged in an argument
with God. When disaster after disaster struck, Job did not want to grasp
its hidden meaning. When deep in the depths of grief what Job said was,
that one "bitter in soul longs for death and digs for it more than for
hidden treasures"(Job 3:2). But when God spoke directly to Job and
asked him certain questions, his wavering ceased completely. "Job answered
the Lord; ‘See, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my
hand on my mouth'"(Job 40:304).
God’s thought and
man’s thought
The parable of the lost
sheep(cf Lk 15:1-17) gives us a clear idea about God’s attitude. In man’s
calculation, ninety-nine sheep are much more important than one! But what
does the good shepherd do? Having a hundred sheep and losing one of them,
he leaves the ninety -mine in the wilderness and goes after the one that
is lost until he finds it (cf Lk 15:4). The "desert" is a place fraught
with danger. If the shepherd leaves ninety-nine sheep there and goes after
the one that is lost "until he finds it," how many of those ninety-nine
will survive? No argument as this deters the shepherd. According to his
calculation, it might seem that one sheep is more important than ninety-nine.
Such a view is difficult for us, ordinary mortals, to understand.
When matters that are difficult
to understand and bear, happen in our own life, we get angry with God and
rebel against him. This is a natural reaction. Only where there is love,
there is breach of relationship. It is only against the background of love
that a quarrel has relevance.
When Abraham and Job stepped
out of their narrow, constricted horizons and ways of thinking, and raised
their eyes to the great providence and care of God, doubts and arguments
and resentment were dispelled. Likewise, when we too surrender overselves
fully to God with the firm conviction that God’s calculations will never
go wrong, and his plans are always for our welfare, our quarrel with God
will be settled and our anger will melt. Then we will, like Job, say, "See,
I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth"(Job
40:4).