Nahum

Nahum 1 - God is good, slow to anger and great in power! He is also just and will not leave the guilty unpunished. The very wonders of nature bow to him. He knows those that trust him, he is a refuge for us. He will not allow the tangles of sin to afflict us any longer. He will break sin's yoke from our necks and tear sin's shackles away. To us he brings good news and proclaims peace. We are free to celebrate him and fully surrender to him in obedience. But for the guilty, those who's sin has not been paid for at the cross, you will have to pay for those sins. His wrath will be poured out like fire, so repent! An overwhelming flood will be the end of you, so repent! He will pursue his foes into the darkness, so repent! They will be consumed like dry stubble, so repent! They will be cut off and pass away, so repent! God is good AND God takes vengeance and is filled with wrath, BOTH are meant to draw us into a relationship with Him!

Nahum 2 The destruction on Nineveh, one previously given the opportunity to repent but having stubbornly and willfully refused stands armed with her best defenses ready to defend herself. But finds the Lord is now against her, fulfilling His obligation to being Holy and Just. As I thought about Nineveh and the Babylonian army marching by the will of God towards her city walls, I pictured a city being overtaken by a great storm. Man's best defenses are powerless, "the Lord has his way in the whirlwind and the storm..." I love watching a storm from a safe distance but I do not enjoy hiding in a car wash while hail falls from the sky! In Romans 8:31 it says "If God is for us who can stand against us!" We get to choose what side of the storm we are going to be on. I want to know that I stand behind the Commander and Chief of the heavenly armies and that nothing will ever stand against me and my God! What choice will you make?

Nahum 3 - In the end Nineveh refused to humble herself before God. She built herself up based on her perceived strength and power, her pride grew out of control to the point where she thought herself capable of saving herself. It is a lie straight from the pit of hell! We can not save ourselves. We can't be good enough, we can't be smart enough, we can't be rich enough. 1 Peter 5 says that God resists the proud. why? Because it rejects the need for His Son's blood spilt for us at the cross. It rolls it's eyes and twists its mouth with an "I don't need you." BUT!!! He gives grace, sweet amazing grace to the humble!! Don't be like Nineveh destroyed and left to be buried in centuries of blowing sand, Jesus is the cornerstone on which you can stand.