Jonah

When I first started teaching Sunday school, my emphasis on teaching about Jonah and the giant fish was about God's mercy.  I mean - the guy got swallowed by a great fish...three days in the belly and Jonah repented...and then gets barfed-up on dry land.  (Kinda gross to be barfed-up!!!)

Yes, God is merciful....but then you come to the end of the book of Jonah.  After the fish incident, Jonah went to Nineveh and preached. The wicked people repented.  God forgave them in His mercy.  Jonah sees all this and gets mad.  He heads to the east side of the city and builds a canopy for shelter.  God in His love and mercy speaks to Jonah, "Doest thou well to be angry?" 

God then provided a vine to shelter Jonah from the heat and wind.  The vine's life span was a day.  The next day God created a worm to come and destroy said vine.

God's compassion and mercy are evident throughout this glimpse into Jonah's life...however at the end of this book, God speaks asking Jonah if his anger DOES HIM WELL.  Does anger ever do us well?  Noooooooo!!!  Anger eats away at our insides until we ooze anger out our pores....out our mouths...in our actions...etc.