Project 119: Nahum 1
| Project 119
This week's devotions are written by MBBC Student Ministry Intern Allison McSwain.
Wayne and Mary Splawn once taught a student ministry series entitled “NaWHOM? And HabakHUH?” I feel like this attitude toward these small prophetic works is incredibly common even among us adults. I don’t often find myself flipping to Nahum during my quiet time, but perhaps I should start. Over this next week, we’ll look into what these two books have to say knowing that they are the divinely inspired Word of God. Nahum contains a prophecy that announces the downfall of an enemy of God’s people—Assyria, identified here by its capital city, Nineveh. Assyria is just one party in a long line of wicked empires that oppressed Israel. This prophetic book is an encouragement to those who are hurting, overwhelmed by the evil in the world and unsure if God hears their cries.
This first chapter contains a beautiful poem reminding the reader that God always wins. Nahum says a lot about God’s character, and several aspects seem like they may be contradictory. We first see that God is jealous and avenging—He is active in rescuing His people and punishing their oppressors. He pours out His wrath on His enemies like a storm, like fire. Yet, Nahum writes, God is slow to anger. Yes, He is vengeful and powerful enough to crush all evil, but in His kindness He always gives the wicked the chance to repent. Perhaps the groans of the persecuted, “How long, oh Lord?,” ring out longer than we would like because our God is slow to anger—He is allowing the oppressors the time to choose rightly.
However, God never abandons His beloved. “Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more,” He says (Nahum 1:12, ESV). In His timing, He frees the suffering, for, as verse seven tells us, He is GOOD. We can take refuge in our God, friends, because He is a stronghold that cannot be overcome. Plotting against our God is futile—He always gets the final say. I don’t know what Nineveh is for you at this point in your life, what wickedness you feel is crushing you under its feet, but today let us thank God that He always wins. Thank Him because He will take vengeance on the enemies of His people. Thank Him that He is good and powerful. May these aspects of God’s character encourage you today and every day as you remember that God never leaves evil unpunished.
Nahum 1 (ESV):
1 An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh.
God’s Wrath Against Nineveh
2 The LORD is a jealous and avenging God;
the LORD is avenging and wrathful;
the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries
and keeps wrath for his enemies.
3 The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,
and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
the bloom of Lebanon withers.
5 The mountains quake before him;
the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
the world and all who dwell in it.
6 Who can stand before his indignation?
Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
7 The LORD is good,
a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him.
8 But with an overflowing flood
he will make a complete end of the adversaries,
and will pursue his enemies into darkness.
9 What do you plot against the LORD?
He will make a complete end;
trouble will not rise up a second time.
10 For they are like entangled thorns,
like drunkards as they drink;
they are consumed like stubble fully dried.
11 From you came one
who plotted evil against the LORD,
a worthless counselor.
12 Thus says the LORD,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
they will be cut down and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
13 And now I will break his yoke from off you
and will burst your bonds apart.”
14 The LORD has given commandment about you:
“No more shall your name be perpetuated;
from the house of your gods I will cut off
the carved image and the metal image.
I will make your grave, for you are vile.”
15 Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
who brings good news,
who publishes peace!
Keep your feasts, O Judah;
fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
he is utterly cut off.