The Contrast of God

Some time back we looked at the story of Jonah and how it illustrates God's preference for showing mercy. The book of Nahum is sort of a sequel to Jonah, and like a lot of sequels, it's a darker, grittier tale. But it's not all dark, and both the dark and the light tell us something important about God.

It might be interesting to be a fly on the wall when someone reads Nahum for the first time.

"An oracle concerning Nineveh." (1:1) Hey, I remember Nineveh from Jonah. I wonder how they're doing.

"The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath." (1:2) So ... not well. I guess this is going to be another one of those books.

"Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger? His wrath is poured out like fire; the rocks are shattered before him." (1:6) Yikes.

"The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble." Huh?

"He cares for those who trust in him, but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh." (1:7) Wait, what?

The abrupt transition from God's wrath to "the LORD is good" is surprising. The contrast between his care for "those who trust in him" and his destruction of others can be jarring. How is that good? Why does he play favorites like that?

We need to look back earlier in the passage to something our first time reader probably didn't think was significant:

The LORD is slow to anger but great in power;
   the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished. (1:3)

There is a passage in Exodus that is the part of the Bible most quoted by the Old Testament. Jonah quoted part of it. Nahum returns to it but picks up a different part. The LORD describes himself as "the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, abounding in love and faithfulness, maintaining love to thousands, and forgiving wickedness, rebellion and sin. Yet he does not leave the guilty unpunished" (Ex 34:6-7).

Jonah says the Lord is "a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity" (4:2). Nahum doesn't disagree, but he reminds us that "the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished".

God forgives. God seems eager to forgive. But eventually he will punish the unrepentant. Eventually he must call them to account for their evil choices or justice will never be done. And justice will be done.

This apparent favoritism, where God "cares for those who trust in him" while punishing everyone else, is due to one thing: repentance. In another place it says,

As a father has compassion on his children,
   so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him;
for he knows how we are formed,
   he remembers that we are dust. (Psalm 103:13-14)

Those who fear the Lord aren't perfect, but they want to be. They sin, but they repent. And he is very patient with them because he knows how weak they are, but they really do want to do better.

But those who don't really want to do better will eventually meet the justice they have earned.

Nahum will go on to describe the punishment that will befall Nineveh and all Assyria. It will be the same things they did to those they conquered. They were well-earned because of the horrors they inflicted on their victims, including Israel.

"It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Heb 10:31) but "The Lord knows those who are his" (2Tim 2:19).

When the world is falling apart around us, when you feel beset by evil, when it seems like the wicked are getting away scot free, remember who God is. And when you feel like you've failed for the hundredth time, remember who God is.

The LORD is good,
   a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him,
   but with an overwhelming flood
he will make an end of Nineveh;
   he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness. (Nahum 1:7-8)

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