God is Great, God is Good - Nahum 1:1-8
Now and Later: A Journey Through the Minor Prophets • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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Introduction
Introduction
One of the first prayers we often learn is children is: “God is great. God is good. Let us thank him for our food.” We’re apt to think that this is a benign prayer for children, that it’s something we should move beyond as we get older. But, I would propose that this is a prayer that is deep enough and rich enough to build a life upon. Our greatest need isn’t to be able to pray more flowery prayers with more sophisticated language. Our greatest need is to understand and apply this simple prayer with these simple doctrines more deeply and more thoroughly.
The brokenness and disorder that we face in our lives is always calling these two simple truths into question. We’ve seen that this week, haven’t we? As we mourn the loss of a young husband and father whom we love, the questions we have flow from these two thoughts of God. God are you not good enough to want better, or are you not great enough to do anything about it?
God’s Word
God’s Word
It’s only recognizing that the greatness of God and the goodness of God are working in concert with one another that will sustain you through the uncertainties of life. And, this simple, profound, life-anchoring message is at the center of Nahum’s message to Judah. Similar to what we saw with Obadiah, Nahum is speaking to his people about their enemies — Nineveh and Assyria. The revival that Jonah’s preaching brought to Nineveh was long over. Assyria had heinously captured the Northern Kingdom of Israel, destroyed the capitol city of Samaria, and conquered most of the territories of Jerusalem. Only by God’s divine intervention was Jerusalem left standing. The situation was dire. Assyria was getting stronger, and Judah was getting weaker. Where is God? Where is his help? Where is his intervention? So, Nahum tells them Why God is Trustworthy When Evil Appears to Win (Headline):
God is “great.”
God is “great.”
How long will evil reign? That’s what Judah wondered as they watched Assyria prosper at their expense. But, for any person who believes in God, this is the question, isn’t it? My grandad fought bravely in Vietnam. More than 50 years later, he still shouts and ducks whenever there’s a loud noise or if something moves quickly behind him. It’s a very visual reminder of what it is to live in a disordered world. All of us carry forward pain from the past, and we live with the potential of adding new pain to the mix every day. All of us have lived under such threat of tragedy that we’re prone to flinch in the face of a new day. Nahum reminds us why we can know that the days are numbered for evil, pain, and suffering, and it’s the greatness of God.
He reigns “passionately.”
Nahum 1:2 “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.”
A while back, I read the story of how a mom and her boyfriend were arrested. The boyfriend had severely abused the woman’s children. She had not abused them herself, but she had known they were being abused and enabled it to continue. So, they arrested him as an abuser and her as an accomplice. Think of it. Her indifference had made her an accomplice. This is often how we come to think of God with our suffering. Perhaps, He doesn’t perpetrate against us, but He seems indifferent and thus an accomplice.
And, this is where Nahum starts as He talks about God. He describes God in three ways: “jealous,” “wrathful,” and “taking vengeance.” That is, when it comes to evil prevailing and his people suffering, there is no indifference in God. He is not asleep at the wheel. “Jealous” can mean “zeal” or “passion.” It means the opposite of indifference. And, that’s where God’s wrath and vengeance starts. And, that’s where the hope and security of God’s people starts. He is passionate about his name, and He is passionate for his people. And, that is bad news for Nineveh and for anyone who would bring harm to us or dishonor to him. We’re prone to think of God’s wrath as only being negative, but a good Judge isn’t indifferent or passive toward evil. They punish it. And, that’s condemnation for those who would oppressed and salvation for those who would be oppressed.
So, the judgement of evil isn’t separate from our salvation; it’s the other side of the coin. And, that’s why Paul says you don’t have to avenge yourselves. God will. God will avenge you, and God will avenge every injustice you’ve seen. And, God will avenge every injustice that you’re indifferent about. And, that’s why you don’t have to wield the axe of judgement or turn your heart toxic with bitterness. Because He is reigning passionately, and He is not indifferent to the suffering you’ve faced or the abuse you’ve known or the evil you’ve seen. God is more passionate and more committed to your ultimate good than you are.
But, He doesn’t just reign passionately...
He reigns “justly.”
Nahum 1:3a “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
Jonah 4:2 “And he prayed to the Lord and said, “O Lord, is not this what I said when I was yet in my country? That is why I made haste to flee to Tarshish; for I knew that you are a gracious God and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and relenting from disaster.”
Exodus 34:6-7 “The Lord passed before him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness, keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.””
The reason we often believe that God is indifferent is that we misunderstand his timing. We mistake his patience for passivity. Nahum is really an epilogue or a sequel to the book of Jonah. Nahum’s condemnation of Nineveh came 150 years or so after the revival in Nineveh that we read in Jonah. And, I want to draw a difference between Jonah and Nahum. Jonah is angry with God because he didn’t think Nineveh was being given the punishment they deserved. He thought God was too indifferent about their evil. But, Nahum displays trust in God even though he had likely suffered more intensely at Nineveh’s hands than Jonah and doesn’t live to see his words of their judgement come to pass. So, what’s the difference between the person who grows bitter toward God over the injustice they see or experience and the person who trusts that God will see them through it?
The difference between the person who endures patiently and the person who responds bitterly is an accurate, comprehensive understanding of who God really is, especially as it pertains to his justice. Nahum and Jonah both quote the same passage from Exodus 34, but they highlight completely different aspects of it. Both of them highlight the patience of God. He is “slow to anger.” And, aren’t we glad that God is longsuffering toward us? But, notice the difference in what they highlight next. Jonah follows that by saying, “relenting from disaster” and Nahum follows by saying, “will by no means clear the guilty.” That is, Nahum had a more well-balanced view of God’s character. God is patient. Yes! Praise his name! God is gracious. Yes! God is merciful. But, God is also just. He will avenge his people, and his enemies will not stand.
God’s patience often means that He doesn’t operate according to our timeline, and that’s Good News for us. If we all immediately received the justice we were due, who could stand? But, God’s patience creates time for repentance according to Peter, and God’s patience stores up, or “keeps wrath” for those who don’t turn to him. So, his patience isn’t passivity, and his patience isn’t impotence. His patience are an opportunity for faith from us, an opportunity for repentance for oppressors, and an opportunity for justice to ultimately reign.
Because no matter how powerful an abuser or an oppressor may be, no matter how deeply entrenched evil may appear, no matter how daunting an enemy may seem...
He reigns “supremely.”
Nahum 1:3b-6 “His way is in whirlwind and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and makes it dry; he dries up all the rivers; Bashan and Carmel wither; the bloom of Lebanon withers. The mountains quake before him; the hills melt; the earth heaves before him, the world and all who dwell in it. 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.”
Assyria is the archenemy of God in the Old Testament. God and his people have many enemies, but Assyria is the standard-bearer. Assyria represents the exact antithesis of who God was. They are proud, brutal, and immoral. They didn’t just defeat their enemies. They decimated them. They raped their women, disfigured their men, and enslaved their children. And, they believed they were able to do this because of the great power of their gods and their kings. And, their gods were represented by the things that you could see — whirlwinds, clouds, and storms.
So, picture Nahum is painting is clear enough. Nahum 1:2-8 represents a Psalm that is half finished. It’s half of an acrostic. And, it’s a reminder that God isn’t finished either. This story is only half told. You haven’t seen the end yet. He is not like the whirlwind and the storm, here and then gone. He is the one walks in the path of the storm and rides on the clouds. He isn’t like the sea, plentiful and then dry. He’s the one who fills it, and then empties it. He isn’t the mountain; He is the one who makes the mountains shakes. That is, He is the God of their gods. They are his gifts, and they will be his judgement. And, before his judgement who can stand?
Revelation 1:7 “Behold, he is coming with the clouds, and every eye will see him, even those who pierced him, and all tribes of the earth will wail on account of him. Even so. Amen.”
It didn’t happen in Jonah’s timing. It wasn’t happening in Judah’s timing. And, it won’t happen in our timing. But, Assyria will fall. In fact, within a generation, Assyria would fall after existing for 2300 years uninterrupted, the river that was their lifeblood flooded, breached their impenetrable walls, and Babylon wiped Nineveh from the earth. And, a similar judgement is coming. Like God in Nahum, another day of judgement is coming in which our Savior will come riding on the clouds, and before him the nations will wail in judgement. God is great, church. God is great. You can trust his rule.
God is “good.”
God is “good.”
When we begin to realize that God is great and sovereign and capable, then another big question confronts our faith: If God can make it right, why doesn’t He want to? It’s a hard pill to swallow when you realize God could have stopped your abuse but didn’t. He could have saved your child’s life, but He didn’t. He could’ve preserved your job, but you’re still unemployed. So, even if we believe He’s real and we believe He’s able, we might be prone to wonder how good He is. That’s the question that you’d have in your mind if ISIS occupying Montgomery or Washington D.C., and that’s the question Judah has as Assyria runs roughshod over the ancient near east.
Nahum recognizes that it’s not enough to have a mighty and powerful God. Our only hope is that He’s good, too. So, until Nineveh finds her certain end, God’s people are reminded about who God is. And, these are the reminders we need until we’re ultimately united with Christ in full.
He is “willing.”
Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”
The question that always surrounded the gods was primarily one of willingness, not ability. A relationship with them was something like the lottery. You hoped they would draw your name for blessing. The gods were filled with the potential and ability to help, but the potential for their help wasn’t often matched with a willingness to do so. It’s not that different than the way that many of us see jobs or relationships or education. We’re just trying to put the right combination together so that they will give us the happiness and security we’re looking for. That’s what they were doing with the other gods. But, these are all fickle gods, and Nahum says in the clearest, simplest terms that God is nothing like this. What is He like? “The Lord is good.” God doesn’t just possess the ability to help; He possesses the desire to help. He’s not just great; He’s good.
We see the goodness of God, the willingness of God most clearly in person of Jesus. A leper came to him in Matthew 8 saying, “If you will, you can make me clean.” “I know that you’re able, if only you’re willing.” Jesus said, “I’m willing. Be clean.” In Gethsemane in the shadows of the cross, Jesus asked his Father for another way, but ultimately said, “I am willing to go!” Hanging on the cross, they mocked Jesus saying, “He who sought to save others CANNOT save himself.” Oh, as his resurrection proved, He could, but He was willing to stay until our price was paid in full. Christ proved Nahum’s message. God is not just great; He is good. He’s not just able to help; He’s willing to help.
Perhaps, this week, we’d ask: Why wasn’t God “willing” to help Shawn? Why wasn’t He “willing” to answer our prayers for his healing? I don’t have an answer for that. But, what I can say is that He is willing to prepare us for suffering, to help us cope with suffering, and to walk with us through suffering. He was willing to take the victory away from death and hand it to Shawn. He was willing to take away the despair of death so that Abbie and Caroline can grieve with hope.
He is willing to provide a safe place for all of us to run.
He is “safe.”
Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”
In the background of Nahum’s prophesy is the discipline of his people. Assyria was oppressing God’s people as a means of God’s discipline. So, they’re thinking: “God has disciplined us, but will He defend us?” But, here’s what they are to see: God’s discipline shows them the source of his strength. It shows them where to run. No loving parent disciplines their child with the full force that they have. It’s restrained force. It’s just enough to teach and protect the child. But, when someone tries to attack the child and harm the child, the loving parent attacks with all the force and means at their disposal. So, discipline properly carried out is a demonstration of strength that reinforces how safe you really are. Discipline lovingly exercised provides security.
“In the day of trouble,” there are two different experiences you can have with a lion. If you’re against him, there’s no place more dangerous. But, if He’s for you, if you’re his cub, then there’s nowhere safer.
Some of you have never felt safe in your entire life. Your parents made you feel unsafe. Your experience in school and at work and in marriage have made you feel unsafe. Poor health and lingering death have left you insecure. There is a place for you to go. There’s a person to whom you should go. You can hide “in him.” You can take refuge “in him.” And....
He is “near.”
Nahum 1:7 “The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him.”
Suffering can make God seem far away. We’re aware of that this week, aren’t we? Andrew Brunson was a Christian missionary in Turkey who was imprisoned from 2016 to 2018 on trumped up charges. He said that he expected to have an abiding sense of God’s presence with him in prison but that he felt abandoned and forsaken instead. He says, “I had grace, but it was unfelt grace.” And, that’s a description of how our relationship with grace often seems, isn’t it? We have grace, but it’s unfelt grace. That may be how we feel today.
But, here’s the reminder that Nahum gives to Judah: God is always knowing those who are always hiding in him. “Know” means something different to God than it means to us. It means something different in the Bible than it typically means to us. It means an intimate knowledge. “I don’t just know about you. I know you. I know what worries you. I know what scares you. I know what you’ve faced and dealt with. I know the real you.” For God to “know” you means is another way for God to say that He is near to you. He’s near like a parent with a child, like a husband pulling his bride against him. You don’t have to run around hoping he cares. He’s right there. So, run to him, and hide in in him. He knows those who hide in him.
So, what do we do when grace isn’t felt and suffering makes God seem far away? We remind ourselves of what we do not feel. He’s near. Andrew Brunson said that he remembered what God had both commanded and promised in Matthew 5 when He was preparing his disciples to suffer. Matthew 5:12 “Rejoice and be glad, for your reward is great in heaven, for so they persecuted the prophets who were before you.” So, he danced out for five minutes in the prison out of obedience to rejoice and in faith that his reward was true. Sometimes, we dance because we feel it. Sometimes, we dance because we trust God. So, what can we do? We can dance in the promises of God, and be sure we won’t be proven a fool.