God is gracious! Have you ever found your will to do what’s right weakening, as you became discouraged with what you saw in your life and the world around you? No doubt, we all have felt overwhelmed by the darkness both within ourselves and in our world.
The prophet Nahum reminds us of God’s active hand, working even in the darkest of times to bring justice and hope throughout the world. Nahum lived in a dark time, a time in which the faithful few must have wondered how long they would have to resist cultural and spiritual compromise.
After allowing approximately two hundred years of powerful Assyrian kings and rulers, God announced through Nahum His plans to judge the city of Nineveh. While the book as a whole clearly shows God’s concern over sin, His willingness to punish those guilty of wickedness, and His power to carry out His desire for judgment, it also contains rays of hope shining through the darkness.
A small but faithful remnant in an increasingly idolatrous Judah would have been comforted by declarations of God’s slowness to anger (Nahum 1:3), His goodness, and strength (Nahum 1:7), and His restorative power (Nahum 2:2). Also, most significant, the people of Judah would have immediately taken hope in the idea that Nineveh, their primary oppressor for generations, would soon come under judgment from God.
Though God will judge sin, He is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance” (2Pet. 3:9); that is why He gave His only Son to be the Savior of the world. Jesus came
"to be a propitiation through faith in his blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins (Rom. 3:25). If we confess our sin, God is faithful and just, to forgive us and to cleanse us from our sin” (1Jn.1:9). You may ask why? It is because righteousness will exalt a nation, but sin is a reproach to its people (Prob. 14:34).
We serve a gracious God! He is calling on the Body of Christ to stand in the gap for the nation. God said, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land” (2Chron. 7:14).
I believe the question is, can God count on us to stand in the gap? The prophet Isaiah heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I, Here am I; send me” (Isa. 6:8). Should God choose to grant mercy, that good gift will not compromise His ultimate sense of justice for all in the end.
Prayer changes things! “Confess your trespasses to one another, and pray for one another, that you; maybe healed. The effective, fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much” (Jam. 5:16).
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