God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
Nahum 1:2-3
If there is one thing for which we should be thanking the Lord today, it is that He is “slow to anger.” I have often thanked Him for His mercy and His blessings and other things. But I don’t know how often I have actually thanked Him for being slow to anger. If He were not slow to anger, I would not know of His mercy and blessings, for I would have been destroyed long ago. I know that I have often done things to make Him very angry, and I regret every one of them. But again, He is “slow to anger.”
At the time that Nahum was writing this book, God had been giving Israel second chance after second chance. Reading the earlier books of the Old Testament, you find that the children of Israel would reject God and turn to idols. They would be judged, they would repent and God would deliver them. Then the cycle would start all over again. Over and over this happened, maybe nowhere more obvious than in the book of Judges. During Nahum’s time, it had been at least 700 years since the nation of Israel had turned away from God for the first time in the Promised Land. For 700 years, they repeated this cycle of disobeying, being judged, repenting and being delivered. For over 700 years, God tried to get them to love Him with their whole heart.
He has not worked on any of us for 700 years, but what does He have to do to us to bring us to Himself? He has surely been merciful and slow to anger with us. Let us thank Him for it and, with His help, not give Him cause to be angry with us!
Justified Freely 
Posted by Debbie on September 26, 2011 at 8:52 am
So thankful with you, for this mercy of His in being slow to anger! I too, like the Israelites of old, find myself falling down and repenting more often than I’d like.
Also, this is a reminder to me to do likewise . . .to be slow to anger also. 🙂
God bless you, Ben, as He draws you close to Himself today!
Posted by justifiedfreely on September 27, 2011 at 5:08 am
That’s me too. Failing far more often than I should and far more often than I would like. And I know that I need to do the same, also- be slow to anger! 🙂 There is always something to work on!