To the Enemies of the Lord…

Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?  his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.  The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies.

Nahum 1:6-8

We looked yesterday at the fact that the Lord is good and that He is a strong hold in the day of trouble.  We also noted the comforting and encouraging fact that the Lord “knoweth them that trust in him.”  He knows who trusts in Him and who believes in Him.  He also knows who His enemies are.  Verse 8 describes their existence.  Contrast the condition of the enemy of the Lord in verse 8 with those who trust in Him in verse 7.  The difference is literally night and day.

To those who trust in Him, the “Lord is good.”  To those who are His enemies, an “overrunning flood” will pursue them.  To those who trust in Him, He is a “strong hold in the day of trouble.”  To those who are His enemies, “His fury is poured out like fire.”  To those who trust in Him, He knows them and cares for them.  To those who are His enemies, “darkness shall pursue” them.  Think of that contrast.  The Bible speaks of believers as being “in the light” and as “walking in the light.”  But unbelievers are “in darkness.”  This verse tells us that darkness will pursue them.  Can you imagine darkness following you everywhere you go?  What a terrible existence.  But such is any life without the true Light.  Such is any life without the Lord.

What a difference the Lord makes!  What a difference knowing Him and trusting in Him makes!

To Those Who Trust In Him…

Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.  The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.

Nahum 1:6-7

Verse 6 asks us “Who can stand before his indignation?”.  And in light of the verses before it, the simple answer is “nobody.”  There is no one who could stand before His anger or vengeance.  It would be a fearful thing to find yourself under His wrath.  But that is not the case for those who trust in Him.  In the midst of several verses dealing with the power and terror of the Lord being unleashed on His enemies, He reminds us that we can trust in Him.  He also reminds us that He knows those who trust in Him.

Sometimes we may feel alone or even that God has forgotten about us.  But He knows those who trust in Him.  He isn’t going to forget us; He isn’t going to let us get “lost in the shuffle.”  It is a great comfort and an encouragement to know that the Lord knows us and knows that we trust in Him.

He is also described as a “strong hold in the day of trouble.”  When we find ourselves facing the problems and trials of this life, we know that we can go to Him and depend on Him.  We know that, as the Psalmist said, He is our refuge.  We have nothing to fear from the world, for He knows us and is our strong hold in the day of trouble.

I like the fact that this verse starts out by saying “The Lord is good.”  When we read about all of the judgments that evil men will bring on themselves, it’s easy to become fearful ourselves.  The Lord is a powerful God and it is fearful to enter into His wrath.  But He gently reminds us here: “The Lord is good.”

What a great comfort and what a great encouragement!

Great In Power

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.  He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth.  The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.  Who can stand before his indignation?  and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?  his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him.

Nahum 1:3-6

Verse 3 tells us that the Lord is “slow to anger.”  This is a very good thing, because the next several verses go on to show that, as it also says in verse 3, the Lord is “great in power.”  If the Lord were not slow to anger, He would likely have destroyed the entire Earth and everything in it long ago.  Look at these demonstrations of His power:

-“the clouds are the dust of His feet.”

-“He rebuketh the sea and maketh it dry.”

-He “drieth up all the rivers.”

-“The mountains quake at him.”

-“The hills melt [at Him]”

-“The earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.”

-“His fury is poured out like fire.”

-“The rocks are thrown down by him.”

After we read all of these things, we surely can not help but say with the prophet: “Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger?”  The Lord is loving, longsuffering, merciful and good.  But the Bible also tells us that He will “take vengeance on his adversaries” and that He “reserveth wrath for his enemies.”  Thanks be to God that we, as Christians, are not counted among those adversaries and enemies!

Slow to Anger

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!

God Is Jealous

The burden of Nineveh.  The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.  God is jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and is furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth his wrath for his enemies.

Nahum 1:1-2

The book of Nahum, as with many other prophets’ books, is a book of judgment.  God is not pleased with His people and He gives them some reasons in this book.  But He starts out by saying “God is jealous.”  That got me to thinking – why would God Almightly be jealous?  What would He have to be jealous of?  The Bible tells us many times (at least 10 times, if I counted right) that God is a jealous God.  So what does that mean?

God’s jealousy is not like our petty jealousy.  We might get jealous over something that someone else has or over something that someone else gets to do.  We often get jealous over small, petty things.  God is not like that.  The first of the Ten Commandments shows us what God’s jealousy is like: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me.”  Matthew 22:37 tells it like this: “Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”  Mark 12:30 and Luke 10:27 also tell us the same thing.  It was said many times to the Israelites in the Old Testament, and it is said several times to Christians in the New Testament.  We are to always put God first, and love Him with everything that we have.  Anything less is not acceptable.

That is where God’s jealousy comes in to play.  When we are not serving Him and loving Him with our whole heart, we have let something come between us.  God does not want things to come between us.  Whatever we have in our lives that causes us to not love Him with our whole heart needs to be eliminated.  Let us not forget that God is a jealous God.