On the 6th day of Christmas my true love gave to me His peace in the midst of wrath (Nahum 1:2-8).
This world is full of Cumbayah feel good images of God. We cry out to Him and He will be there to fix what ails us, whether we belong to Him or not, whether we are righteous or unrighteous. We expect God to be there because He is a loving God. Yes, He is a loving God. “For God so loved the world…” (John 3:16) and “God is love” (1 John 4:8) tell us this, but when we have an imbalanced view we forget the other side to God.
God [is] jealous, and the LORD revengeth; the LORD revengeth, and [is] furious; the LORD will take vengeance on his adversaries, and he reserveth [wrath] for his enemies. The LORD [is] slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit [the wicked]: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds [are] the dust of his feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh it dry, and drieth up all the rivers: Bashan languisheth, and Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness of his anger? his fury is poured out like fire, and the rocks are thrown down by him. . . .But with an overrunning flood he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness shall pursue his enemies (Nahum 1:2-6, 8).
We see a picture of God who has a right to expect us to be loyal to Him and to avenge the hatred from His enemies. He is a just God. One of God’s characteristics is righteousness. Anytime God displays wrath is an act of justice. He is never violent for violence sake, striking out of pure evil. This picture in Nahum is a horrific image of the other side of God, one we see in the attributes of Jesus, but it’s never one that we see right away.
“The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance” (2 Peter 3:9). God doesn’t want anyone to spend eternity without Him nor does He want us to walk unrighteously after accepting Him as our very own. So he waits and waits and waits, giving us a chance to walk in His way. Even in the midst of His fury, like what we see in Nahum, He sees us who continue to walk after righteousness. Verse 7 says: “The LORD [is] good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him.” This is our God of two sides—equally loving and equally just, but His love doesn’t cancel his justice, and we should never make the mistake and thinking that it does (Galatians 6:7-8). And always remember when His wrath comes, we can be spared in the midst of it.
Copyright 2010 by Rhonda J. Smith