Nahum 1:2
C H Spurgeon
Morning and Evening
“God is jealous.” — Nahum 1:2
Your Lord is very jealous of your love, O believer. Did he choose you?
He cannot bear that you should choose another. Did he buy you with his
own blood? He cannot endure that you should think that you are your
own, or that you belong to this world. He loved you with such a love
that he would not stop in heaven without you; he would sooner die than
you should perish, and he cannot endure that anything should stand
between your heart’s love and himself. He is very jealous of your
trust. He will not permit you to trust in an arm of flesh. He cannot
bear that you should hew out broken cisterns, when the overflowing
fountain is always free to you. When we lean upon him, he is glad, but
when we transfer our dependence to another, when we rely upon our own
wisdom, or the wisdom of a friend—worst of all, when we trust in any
works of our own, he is displeased, and will chasten us that he may
bring us to himself. He is also very jealous of our company. There
should be no one with whom we converse so much as with Jesus. To abide
in him only, this is true love; but to commune with the world, to find
sufficient solace in our carnal comforts, to prefer even the society
of our fellow Christians to secret intercourse with him, this is
grievous to our jealous Lord. He would fain have us abide in him, and
enjoy constant fellowship with himself; and many of the trials which
he sends us are for the purpose of weaning our hearts from the
creature, and fixing them more closely upon himself. Let this jealousy
which would keep us near to Christ be also a comfort to us, for if he
loves us so much as to care thus about our love we may be sure that he
will suffer nothing to harm us, and will protect us from all our
enemies. Oh that we may have grace this day to keep our hearts in
sacred chastity for our Beloved alone, with sacred jealousy shutting
our eyes to all the fascinations of the world!
Nahum 1:1-8
September 21, 2006
The Good And The Bad
The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble. —Nahum 1:7
Nineveh was in trouble with God.
Big trouble! Despite the good work of the reluctant prophet Jonah,
Nineveh had returned to its evil ways. The Ninevites had oppressed
other countries, worshiped idols, and performed acts of cruelty.
God saw this evil, and through the words of Nahum He spoke of
Nineveh’s coming destruction, using words such as wrath and vengeance.
Nineveh was about to face judgment.
Why would God’s prophet tell the people of Judah about this? How could
Nahum’s frightening words help those who lived in the Promised Land?
There is help for answering those questions in Nahum 1:7-8. His
prophecy of the destruction of those who reject God stands in sharp
contrast to God’s promise to those “who trust in Him.” The godly,
rather than facing judgment, would be cared for. They would have a
refuge in Him.
God is not one-sided. He provides refuge, help, and comfort for those
who trust Him, and He also sends judgment against those who disobey
His standards.
The message for us is the same as it was for Judah. Through trust and
obedience, we can enjoy the comfort of God’s refuge—even in times of
trouble. —Dave Branon
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
How oft in the conflict, when pressed by the foe,
I have fled to my Refuge and breathed out my woe;
How often, when trials like sea billows roll,
Have I hidden in Thee, O Thou Rock of my soul. —Cushing
Everyone must face God as Savior or as Judge.
September 4, 2005
God Is Great, God Is Good
READ: Nahum 1:1-8
When we were children, my
brother and I recited this prayer every night before supper: "God is
great, God is good. Let us thank Him for this food." For years I spoke
the words of this prayer without stopping to consider what life would
be like if it were not true—if God were not both great and good.
Without His greatness maintaining order in the universe, the galaxies
would be a junkyard of banged-up stars and planets. And without His
goodness saying "enough" to every evil despot, the earth would be a
playground ruled by the biggest bully.
That simple childhood prayer celebrates two profound attributes of
God: His transcendence and His immanence. Transcendence means that His
greatness is beyond our comprehension. Immanence describes His
nearness to us. The greatness of the almighty God sends us to our
knees in humility. But the goodness of God lifts us back to our feet
in grateful, jubilant praise. The One who is above everything humbled
Himself and became one of us (Psalm 135:5; Philippians 2:8).
Thank God that He uses His greatness not to destroy us but to save us,
and that He uses His goodness not as a reason to reject us but as a
way to reach us. — Julie Ackerman Link
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Immortal,
invisible, God only wise,
In light inaccessible hid from our eyes,
Most blessed, most glorious, the Ancient of Days,
Almighty, victorious—Thy great name we praise. —Smith
When you taste God's goodness,
His praise will be on your lips.
Nahum 1:3
C H Spurgeon
Daily Help
“The LORD is slow to anger, and
great in power” (Nah. 1:3), but the greatness of His power brings
us mercy. Dear reader, what is your state this day? Can you by humble
faith look to Jesus and say, “My substitute, You are my rock, my
trust”? Then, beloved, be not afraid of God’s power, for now that you
are forgiven and accepted, now that by faith you have fled to Christ
for refuge, the power of God need no more terrify you than the shield
and sword of the warrior need terrify those whom he loves. Rather
rejoice that He who is “great in power” is your Father and Friend.
Nahum 1:3
C H Spurgeon
Morning and Evening
“The Lord is slow to anger, and
great in power.” — Nahum 1:3
Jehovah “is slow to anger.” When mercy cometh into the world she
driveth winged steeds; the axles of her chariot-wheels are red hot
with speed; but when wrath goeth forth, it toileth on with tardy
footsteps, for God taketh no pleasure in the sinner’s death. God’s rod
of mercy is ever in his hands outstretched; his sword of justice is in
its scabbard, held down by that pierced hand of love which bled for
the sins of men. “The Lord is slow to anger,” because he is great in
power. He is truly great in power who hath power over himself. When
God’s power doth restrain himself, then it is power indeed: the power
that binds omnipotence is omnipotence surpassed. A man who has a
strong mind can bear to be insulted long, and only resents the wrong
when a sense of right demands his action. The weak mind is irritated
at a little: the strong mind bears it like a rock which moveth not,
though a thousand breakers dash upon it, and cast their pitiful malice
in spray upon its summit. God marketh his enemies, and yet he bestirs
not himself, but holdeth in his anger. If he were less divine than he
is, he would long ere this have sent forth the whole of his thunders,
and emptied the magazines of heaven; he would long ere this have
blasted the earth with the wondrous fires of its lower regions, and
man would have been utterly destroyed; but the greatness of his power
brings us mercy. Dear reader, what is your state this evening? Can you
by humble faith look to Jesus, and say, “My substitute, thou art my
rock, my trust”? Then, beloved, be not afraid of God’s power; for by
faith you have fled to Christ for refuge, the power of God need no
more terrify you, than the shield and sword of the warrior need
terrify those whom he loves. Rather rejoice that he who is “great in
power” is your Father and Friend.
Nahum 1:1-8
December 23, 2002
Nahum's Message
READ: Nahum 1:1-8
The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all
acquit the wicked. —Nahum 1:3
If you ever read the book of
Nahum, you're likely to say, "There's not much joy in that book!"
That's because Nahum spoke of the destruction of Assyria and its
capital city Nineveh.
Nahum revealed the angry side of God as He railed against Assyria
(2:13; 3:5). Many years before, in mercy and for His own purposes, He
had sent the reluctant prophet Jonah to preach to Nineveh. At that
time the people repented, and the city was spared.
Few things are worse than repenting of repentance, but that's what
happened to Assyria. A later generation returned to their forefathers'
wicked ways. Assyria then attacked Israel, and God determined to
punish her.
"The Lord is slow to anger" (1:3). But He is just and will not let sin
go unpunished (1:3-6). Nineveh was about to find that out.
Maybe that's why I was so disturbed after talking with an old friend.
For many years he had professed to be a believer, but then he turned
his back on Christ. His defection raises the question of whether he is
a wayward Christian, or perhaps one who never truly believed. In
either case, he will find out that the Lord does not let sin go
unpunished.
Lord Jesus, I plead with You to protect me from ever repenting of my
repentance. Amen.—David C. Egner
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Our sinful ways can sap our joy
And isolate us from the Lord;
Confession and repentance, though,
Assure that we will be restored. —Sper
Once we turn away from sin,
there should be no turning back
Nahum 1:2,7
God's Moral Integrity
The Lord avenges and is furious....
The Lord is good,...
and He knows those who trust in Him.- Nahum 1:2,7
Bertrand Russell became an atheist after he read the words of Jesus
about hell. He apparently wanted a God who would never become angry or
punish anyone. Dr. Russell certainly wouldn't like today's scripture
reading, which speaks of God
as one who "avenges and is furious."
Personally, I would have trouble believing in a god who never became
angry and didn't punish sin. Such a good God would not be a good God.
What would you think, for example, of a witness to a brutal murder who
felt no emotion and remained indifferent toward punishing the
wrongdoer? Would you consider such a person a good person? Hardly!
God gives us a freewill and usually doesn't stop us from carrying out
our wrong choices. But He does hold us accountable, and he will judge
us.
In Nahum's day, the Ninevites were a cruel people who committed
unbelievable atrocities. But the prophet assured the Israelites that
God saw the wickedness of those people, was angered by it, and would
just plain punish them.
I'm thankful that God possesses that kind of moral integrity. It gives
me reason to trust him to keep all his promises, and it assures me
that he will right all the wrongs of history. - Herbert Vander Lugt
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
Sometimes it seems that sin's ignored
And evil has it's way;
But don't be fooled,
God's eye's aren't closed;
He'll judge us all someday. -Sper
God's judgment may not be immediate, but it is inevitable.
Nahum 1:2
The Loan will take vengeance on His adversaries (Nahum 1:2).
Nahum means "consolation, full of comfort." And that's what Nahum's
message of doom upon Nineveh and Assyria brought to the people of
Judah. Mighty Assyria had made Judah a vassal state, extracting heavy
taxes and inflicting harsh slavery on them. With their security
constantly threatened by pillaging raiders from Nineveh, God's people
were asking, "Has Jehovah forsaken us? Why does an evil nation
pros-per while we suffer?" Against this background—Assyria's pride,
cruelty, and seemingly invincible power in contrast to Judah's
forlorn hopelessness—Nahum thunders his prophecy: "Nineveh will fall!
God has not forsaken His people."
Translating the prophet's message into today's language, it might
sound something like this: "Might does not make right. Countries with
the most nuclear weapons and the biggest armies are not exempt from
divine wrath. Any nation that thwarts justice and oppresses people
will ultimately fall into ruin—whether it be Libya, Russia, China,
Great Britain, Germany, or the United States."
The next time the evening news shows a dictator living in luxury while
the people languish in poverty or innocent victims suffer under the
cruelty of tyrants, recall the message of Nahum. The sovereign Ruler
of this world will have His day. Justice will prevail. What a Nahum.
What a consolation. —D J De Haan
(Our
Daily Bread, Copyright RBC Ministries, Grand Rapids, MI. Reprinted by
permission. All rights reserved)
The highways of history are strewn
with the wreckage of nations that
forgot God.
Nahum 1:3
F B Meyer
Our Daily Homily
Nahum 1:3 The Lord hath his way
in the whirlwind and in the storm.
GOD’S dealings are often
terrible. — He rides on the whirlwind, and wraps Himself in the storm.
But the child of God looks beneath the dress to the Father’s heart,
which beats with as much love when attired thus as when arrayed in the
smiles of a summer eve. The whirlwind serves a useful purpose in
cleaning the trees of rotten boughs, and searching the corners of
fetid courts; the storm, in deluging the galleys and drains; the
clouds, in forming the fertilizing showers on the thirsty land. God is
in it all. God is behind the tempests that sweep over and desolate
your life: this is his way; and the clouds that overcast your sky are
the pavement of his feet; on our side they seem dark and lowering; but
on the other side they are like burnished gold, as He steps across
them. Whenever clouds are above, remember that God is at hand. They
are the dust of his feet.
God’s way is generally hidden. —
The clouds as dust conceal Him; but we must not dwell with melancholy
foreboding on the clouds, as if they were all. God is behind them,
working for us, coming to our rescue, showing Himself strong on our
behalf. Whenever the clouds gather over your life, say God cannot be
far off—see, the dust He raises in his mighty progress betrays Him.
God counts our great things as
very trifling. — A cloud is a great thing to us; it sometimes seems to
equal the Alps in magnificence, in height, in girth; but to God it is
only as a grain of dust to us. Our difficulties, perplexities, and
anxieties, are very little things to Him. With one movement of his
hand He could sweep them away, as you can move dust-motes from your
table. Trust Him! Your tears are much to Him; your difficulties
nothing.
Nahum 1:7
Today in the Word
Amy Carmichael’s life seems to
have been directed by a series of specific verses from the Bible. We
can see how Scripture influenced her life since she had the habit of
noting in her Bible the lesson learned and the date it occurred.
When her father died when she
was 18, her mother frequently quoted Nahum 1:7: “The Lord is good, a
refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him.” This
strengthened Amy’s already deep faith
Nahum 1:7
Safest Place In A Storm
READ: Psalm 46:1-11
The safest place in South
Florida during the hurricane season may be the National Hurricane
Center in Miami. The $5 million structure boasts 10-inch concrete
walls designed to withstand the force of 130 mph winds. Because the
fierce storms come every year, the Center is there to provide a safe
working environment for the people who monitor the weather and issue
the warnings. When other residents leave, they must stay.
Just like hurricanes, the storms of our lives arrive with unnerving
regularity. Often they strike without warning and linger without
welcome, testing the limits of our faith and endurance. But God has
given us a place of safety in the midst of our circumstances.
The prophet Nahum wrote,
The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble; and He knows those who trust in Him (Nahum
1:7).
And the psalmist confidently
stated, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in
trouble. Therefore we will not fear, even though the earth be removed"
(Ps. 46:1-2).
God Himself is our center of safety. It is not our strength but His
that shields us from the whirling winds of circumstance and change. —
David C. McCasland
Give me a spirit
of peace, dear Lord,
Midst the storms and tempests that roll,
That I may find rest and quiet within,
A calm buried deep in my soul. --Dawe
When trouble blows into your life,
seek shelter in God.
Nahum 1:12
C H Spurgeon
Faith's Checkbook
Better Farther On
“Though I have afflicted thee,
I will afflict thee nomore.” —Nahum 1:12
THERE is a limit to affliction.
God sends it and God removes it. Do you sigh, and say “when will the
end be?” Remember that our griefs will surely and finally end when
this poor earthly life is over. Let us quietly wait, and patiently
endure the will of the Lord till He cometh.
Meanwhile, our Father in heaven
takes away the rod when His design in using it is fully served. When
He has whipped away our folly, there will be no more strokes. Or, if
the affliction is sent for testing us, that our graces may glorify
God, it will end when the Lord has made us bear witness to His praise.
We would not wish the affliction to depart till God has gotten out of
us all the honor which we can possibly yield Him.
There may today be “a great
calm.” Who knows how soon those raging billows will give place to a
sea of glass, and the sea birds sit on the gentle waves? After long
tribulation the flail is hung up, and the wheat rests in the garner.
We may, before many hours are past, be just as happy as now we are
sorrowful. It is not hard for the Lord to turn night into day. He that
sends the clouds can as easily clear the skies. Let us be of good
cheer. It is better on before. Let us sing Hallelujah by anticipation.
Nahum 1:13
C H Spurgeon
Faith's Checkbook
Immediate Freedom
“For now will I break his yoke
from off thee,and will burst thy bonds in sunder.”—Nahum 1:13
THE Assyrian was allowed for a
season to oppress the Lord’s people, but there came a time for his
power to be broken. Just so, many a heart is held in bondage by Satan
and frets sorely under the yoke. Oh, that to such prisoners of hope
the word of the Lord may come at once, according to the text: “Now
will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in
sunder!”
See! the Lord promises a present
deliverance: “Now will I break his yoke from off thee.” Believe for
immediate freedom; and, according to thy faith, so shall it be unto
thee at this very hour. When God saith “now,” let no man say
tomorrow.
See how complete the rescue is
to be; for the yoke is not to be removed, but broken; and the bonds
are not to be untied, but burst asunder. Here is a display of divine
force which guarantees that the oppressor shall not return. His yoke
is broken, we cannot again be bowed down by its weight. His bonds are
burst asunder, they can no longer hold us. Oh, to believe in Jesus for
complete and everlasting emancipation! “If the Son shall make you
free, ye shall be free indeed.” Come, Lord, and set free thy
captives, according to thy word.
Nahum 2:2
F B Meyer
Our Daily Homily
Nahum 2:2 The Lord bringeth
again the excellency of Jacob.
Too long Nineveh had exerted her
malign influence upon the fortunes of the chosen people;that, to use
the expressive simile of Nahum 2:11, it had resembled a den of lions,
whence ravenous beasts prowl forth to devour the villagers. The
Assyrians, pouring forth from their mighty metropolis, had devastated
the excellency of Jacob, the cry of the land had gone up to Jehovah;
and He here declares his determination to quell the enemy and avenger,
and to bring again the excellency of the people whom He loved.
It may be that you, too, have
been carried into captivity, or devastated by strongly besetting sins;
though you pray and yearn for emancipation, still you are kept low by
the depredations of the power of evil. But be of good cheer; God is
moving to your help. He is against those who are against you; He will
bring again your excellency. He resembles the mother, whose child is
smitten with small-pox. Does she love it less? Nay, but comes nearer,
that they may fight the disease together.
You shall excel in faith when
the hindrance is removed. The faith that once characterized you shall
arouse with its former vigor, and make an open pathway down which
heavens beat blessings may enter your life. At its summons the unseen
will become more real than the seen, and God will be all in all. You
shall excel also in hope. This is the realizing faculty, accepting the
assurances of faith, following them as the beacon-lights that guide
weary sailors; for hope is more than faith, as the artist is more than
the preparer of colors. You shall also excel in love. When self-will
looses its hold upon the soul, love springs spontaneously from its
soil.
Nahum 3:19
F B Meyer
Our Daily Homily
Nahum 3:19 There is no assuaging
of thy hurt; thy wound is grievous. (r.v.)
This is one of the greatest
chapters in Old Testament prophecy. Nahum the Elkoshite was a man of
uncommon power of imagination and force of eloquence. His denunciation
of Nineveh is remarkably forcible and eloquent. You can almost hear
the crack of the whip, the rattling of wheels, and see the heap of
corpses that block the passages. Every traveller, from Layard
downwards, has attested the literal fulfillment of these predictions.
For Nineveh, from the time of her fall to the present, has been
utterly waste. Her hurt has never been assuaged. A scar upon the
earth’s surface alone marks her site.
From such a spectacle we may
well turn to our beloved country, and seriously question whether we
are doing all that we can to stay a similar fate. There are many signs
that she is being swept along in the same stream as has borne many
mighty nations down to ruin. The growing luxury of the rich; the
abject poverty of the poor (a child was burned in Whitechapel the
other day through the mother having to sell the fire-guard to buy
bread); the gross impurity and immorality of our streets; the
increasing desecration of the Rest Day; and the overwhelming bill for
drink—these things cannot be unpunished. May we not indeed fear that
God will soon rise against us? Let us use our influence as citizens,
and our prayer as saints, to avert a fate which if it comes will be
irretrievable.
Ah, reader, is this thy case?
Hast thou an inward hurt, of which no balm or medicine has brought
assuagement? Hast thou a wound, so grievous that no art has sufficed
to heal it? Take it to the Living Savior. Each of his miracles, in the
days of his flesh, has a spiritual counterpart
