The Divine Warrior

"(1) An oracle concerning Nineveh. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. (2) The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; 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 whirl wind 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." Nahum 1:1-8

"(1) Woe to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder-- no end to the prey! (2) The crack of the whip, and the rumble of the wheel, galloping horse and bounding chariot! (3) Horsemen charging, flashing sword and glittering spear, hosts of slain, heaps of corpses, dead bodies without end--- they stumble over the bodies!... (19) There is no easing your hurt, your wound is grievous. All who hear the news about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your unceasing evil?" Nahum 3:1-3, 19

Wow, what a pleasant way to begin a morning. These are snippets from the tiny book of Nahum, written by the prophet Nahum to Nineveh. At that time Nineveh was the Syrian capital and the largest city in the world.
Nahum tells the people of Nineveh that they are headed towards doom. They are liars. They indulge in extreme violence. Violence that as an American I cannot imagine. However pointed out by Pastor Habig, the rest of the world has always been this violent- America is late to the game.
In this passage, Nahum says that God is vengeful. Vegence is repayment of the same kind, so basically God will treat the Ninevehians how they treated others, which by the looks of this passage was not super well. God makes no empty promises. Look at a map. There is no Nineveh. Nineveh was destroyed. completely. There is nothing left of Nineveh, but the Scriptures.
I am so inspired and in awe of my God. I am inspired by the fact, that He acts on his own time table and no one elses. He knew when the correct time was to destroy Nineveh. He knows the exact time he will abolish all suffering, slavery, oppression of his people today. It could be tomorrow or 100 years from tomorrow. We, as Christians, are protected from His mighty hand because we cling to Christ and His teachings. We have repented, taken Him as our Savoir and that's all-- we will be cradled in safety either in Heaven or on Earth when God fixes all the wrongs of this world. I'm in awe that there is such a being, man and spirit that loves and desires me so much that He will protect me from all the unspeakable evils to come and all I had to say was, "Come into my heart Jesus. Make me clean. Make me yours." Wow. He really is the Divine Warrior, He knows the best strategy and timing to protect His Kingdom.

There is no refuge from Him.
There is refuge in Him.
 
#macyprobs
This blog post was based off of Brian Habig's July 19th sermon on the Book of Nahum. All of Brian Habig's sermons can be heard on iTunes, just search Downtown Pres. 

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