Christian Devotional – May 11, 2026

The Reluctant Follower, Day 18

The foot stomp. Read Jonah 4:9.

If you’ve ever seen a young child be upset about something, you’ve seen the foot stomp. There’s that moment when the parent or some other adult wants a child to do something, but the child doesn’t want to do it. So often, they cross their arms, make a face, and inevitably stomp their foot on the ground as if to emphatically say, “Absolutely not. I won’t do it!” Something about that foot stomp is supposed to convey their complete and total frustration and anger at whatever the situation is.

Here, we see Jonah’s foot stomp. God has confronted him once about being angry about God’s mercy and compassion. But here, Jonah is going to double down on his feeling. God asks him again if he has a right to be angry and again, Jonah says, “Of course! I have a right to be angry. And I’m so angry, I wish I were dead.”

If we aren’t careful, our dissatisfaction with something God has allowed in our life will grow and fester into anger, which will continue to grow into defiance. As believers we can come to the place where we are so upset about an issue or circumstance that we allow our anger to become a roadblock to our effectiveness, our witness, and our obedience. Jonah was used by God to deliver an incredible message, but we never hear Jonah’s name again in scripture. Jonah was so angry and so upset that in his foot stomp moment, he missed truly understanding the character of who God is and who God wanted Jonah to be.

Are we staying focused on God or do we allow our feelings toward our circumstances to dictate our obedience level? Don’t allow frustration to create in us such a attitude of hostility that we miss out on anything else that God is doing in our lives. Avoid the foot stomp and bring our hearts in submission to God.

Watch the full video here: https://youtu.be/BhDrBov1UMs