I read through the book of Jonah the other day. I really like that book. You should read through it too, it's only four short chapters long and easy to do in one sitting.

It's slightly comical how Jonah is so defiant against God--and kind of whiny. For one, he ran away from God's command and got swallowed by a fish because of it. But God had mercy on him and let the fish spit Jonah out, after Jonah humbled himself and asked for God's forgivenss and help:

"[Jonah] said, 'I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again toward your holy temple'" (2:4).

That's in chapter two, which has Jonah's beautiful prayer. But even then, Jonah argues with God in chapter four. This is when Jonah becomes particularly prideful and just plain whiny. He disagreed with God's decision to have mercy on the city of Nineveh, who had turned from their wickedness after hearing God's message spoken through Jonah.

"But to Jonah this seemed very wrong, and he became angry. He prayed to the Lord, 'Isn't this what I said, Lord, when I was still at home? That is what I tried to forestall by fleeing to Tarshish. I knew that you are a gracious and compassionate god, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity. Now Lord, take away my life, for it is better for me to dies than to live.'" (4:1-3)

Jonah doesn't understand that what God did for Nineveh, is the same as what he did for Jonah himself by forgiving him for running away. It's also funny because this has to be one of the only times in the Bible when God's graciousness and compassion are spoken about as a bad thing.
Of course Jonah wasn't the first to try and run away from God (Adam and Eve) and certainly not the last (me). It's easy for us to think Jonah is just plain silly, but we do the same things.

Anywho, I just wanted to share that. Because I like it.