Good morning,
When the prophet Jonah went to a wicked city, Nineveh, with a great fish story and and the limited time offer of 40 days before the judgment of God would destroy them, the people listened to the disappointed prophet and God spared the city and their kingdom. About a hundred years later God sent a different message to his prophet Nahum that had a whole different meaning to it. Jonah was sent to warn these wicked people and give them a chance to repent, but Nahum was sent by the same God to their grandchildren and great grandchildren with a message of doom. God started his message to these wicked, rebellious people by warning them that as LORD he may be slow to get angry, but he was not powerless to act. In fact, he says something that was and is true throughout all of time. “He never lets the guilty go unpunished.” There was Noah’s flood. There was Sodom and Gomorrah. There was the ravages of Israel and Judah still ongoing during their lifetime. God may be slow to get angry, but there is always a payday for those who refuse to love and worship the God who gave them life.
Just four verses later God reminds us again that he is not a God with a single focus. God really does love the world he created. God really does understand the power of sin and the challenges that come with living in a fallen world so he repeats again what he had told his people so often before. “ The LORD is good.” The God of creation didn’t give us life just so he could watch those victimized by sin suffer and die and go into an eternity of suffering. He gave us life so that we could chose to love, trust and obey the ultimate Lover of our souls. It is only those who turn away from the one who offers them eternal life and who insist on having their own way that God displays his power and anger. The LORD is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He really is close to all those who are willing to put their trust in him. People who believe their fears and build their self centered lifestyles around following other gods will find themselves facing the same God the people of Nineveh faced 2,500 years ago. God’s message to these people in Nahum’s time will be true for people today. “There is no healing for your wound; your injury is fatal.” (3:19)
Nahum 1:3 The LORD is slow to get angry, but his power is great, and he never lets the guilty go unpunished. He displays his power in the whirlwind and the storm. The billowing clouds are the dust beneath his feet. 7 The LORD is good, a strong refuge when trouble comes. He is close to those who trust in him.
Roy Wisner
