TODAY IN THE WORD

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 1:11-16
You may be sure that your sin will find you out. - Numbers 32:23
TODAY IN THE WORD
If you use social networking sites such as Facebook, which now boasts more than 400 million active users, you’re probably familiar with receiving a request to be someone’s “friend.” At that point, you have a choice: you can click “confirm” or “ignore.” You might later decide to “unfriend” someone, meaning to remove him or her from the list of people who have access to your personal information. Due to the popularity of such Web sites, the New Oxford American Dictionary named “unfriend” its 2009 Word of the Year.

In modern terms, Jonah was trying to “unfriend” God. God, however, is present everywhere, so there was no escape for the prophet (cf. Ps. 139:7-10). There was also no release from his calling and ministry assignment, no matter how unwelcome. Jonah tried his utmost to block God’s purposes for Nineveh, but his resistance, no matter how extreme, could never thwart the divine will. When the lot settled on Jonah, he persisted in his rebellion by not repenting or calling upon the Lord but instead asking the sailors to throw him overboard.

Perhaps he had despaired to the point of suicide, knowing how God hates sin. But more likely he clung to an irrational hope that if he were to die, no one could take God’s message to Nineveh. In that case, he would “die for his country” and his disobedience could still accomplish something.

The pagan sailors, to their credit, made a contrasting choice. They refused to commit murder and did everything they could to avoid throwing Jonah into the sea. When at last they felt compelled to do so, they cried out for forgiveness. After God miraculously stilled the storm and the “great fish” swallowed Jonah (an event they probably witnessed), they responded in worship, proving the sincerity of their hearts. We don’t know whether this was momentary awe or a lasting conversion, but it would be reasonable to assume it was a life-changing event for at least some of the sailors. Even in the midst of Jonah’s disobedience, God found a way to reveal Himself to unbelievers and bring glory to His name!

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Jesus used Jonah to answer the Pharisees’ demand for a sign: “For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of a huge fish, so the Son of Man will be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth” (Matt. 12:38-42). They wanted supernatural verification that Jesus really did come from God—but they really wanted to discredit Jesus. Christ answered their question by prophesying His Resurrection, turning Jonah’s disobedience on its head for His glory!

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 1:17-2:1
Jonah was inside the fish three days and three nights. - Jonah 1:17
TODAY IN THE WORD
For more than five years, fisherman Allen Sklar cast his lines into the surf of the Atlantic Ocean off the coast of Maryland. Determined to catch a giant striped bass, he baited his hook with fish heads that were too large for smaller fish to swallow. During the early afternoon on May 16, 2005, his patience was rewarded when he hooked a 50-inch striped bass that weighed in at 52 pounds, 14.4 ounces, a new state record. “It was the biggest I’d ever seen with my own eyes,” he said.

It took Sklar 20 minutes to land that large bass, but it took the “great fish” in today’s reading only a few seconds to swallow Jonah. The hapless prophet thought he was about to drown, but God wasn’t finished with him yet and rescued him in this unique way.

The idea that a “great fish” swallowed Jonah and he lived inside it for three days is somewhat unbelievable. It’s not absolutely impossible, for there are documented reports that whales and even sharks have swallowed people and large objects. But in the end, it sounds like a “tall tale.” How do we respond? Do we believe or not that God could have made this happen? Do we believe or not the report in God’s Word that this in fact did happen? Many “spiritual” people are embarrassed by supernatural events and prophecy, preferring to explain matters in other ways. By faith we believe that God’s words are true and His power is more than sufficient to trust the veracity of this historical narrative.

The fact that a “great fish” swallowed Jonah, though dramatic, is actually less important than other aspects of the story. One key is that God provided the fish at exactly the right moment to do exactly what His sovereign plan decreed. Despite Jonah’s disobedience, God’s will is a certainty. Another key is Jonah’s change of heart. It may have taken three days and three nights for God and Jonah to “do business,” but at last Jonah was ready to repent and pray the prayer recorded in chapter 2. God’s mercy always wins out (Rom. 5:8)!

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
The “sign of Jonah” mentioned yesterday carries a second meaning: an exhortation to respond to God’s call to repent from sin. As Jesus explained: “The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it; for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and now one greater than Jonah is here” (Luke 11:29-32). This rebukes all who refuse to accept the message of God’s mercy as revealed in His incarnate Son.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 2:2-4
In my distress I called to the LORD. - Jonah 2:2
TODAY IN THE WORD
If you’ve seen the Veggie Tales movie version of Jonah, you might remember the scene inside the great fish: It’s a bit dark, but there’s plenty of room to move around. The prophet mopes, but his life does not seem to be in immediate danger. A chorus of glittering angels appears and sings an amazing gospel music number, with Jonah occupying the front row for their dramatic performance.

The reality, of course, was much darker and smellier, as well as more depressing and dangerous. As Jonah’s actions attested, he was a very stubborn and willful individual—even Jacob only wrestled with God one night. The prophet admitted to the sailors what he had done (1:12), but it wasn’t until he spent three days inside the “great fish” that he repented of his sin and turned back to the Lord. The prayer recorded in chapter 2 opens with a statement of need and faith (v. 2). His need was obvious: he was in “distress” and on the verge of death at the bottom of the Mediterranean. Without further divine intervention, he would not survive. His faith is shown in the affirmations that God “answered me” and “listened to my cry.”

The following two verses expand both Jonah’s description of his need and his affirmation of faith (vv. 3-4). He recognized that his need, the life-threatening situation in which he found himself, was a result of his sin. He had done wrong and was being punished, primarily by being “banished” or “driven away” (ESV) from God’s presence. What had happened had been justly orchestrated by God, and it is this truth that gave the prophet hope.

The Lord had a purpose—to recover and reclaim His wayward servant. For this reason, Jonah trusted that he would one day “look again toward your holy temple.” Though he was repentant, it seems he was unaware that the kind of mercy and salvation for which he prayed and in which he expressed faith was exactly the kind of mercy and salvation he didn’t want God to extend to Nineveh. His later complaint (4:2) showed he had yet to learn this important spiritual lesson.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Jonah’s prayer presents his need in vivid language, matched only by his faith that God will rescue him and he will again worship in the temple. This pattern of need + faith would be a good one for us to follow in our prayers as well. We can tell God about our negative situation as emotionally as we like. He’s listening. But we can’t allow a human perspective to overwhelm us. Prayer should express our confidence that God is bigger than our troubles and acts in our best interests.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: 1 Corinthians 3:1-4
Brothers, I could not address you as spiritual but as worldly—mere infants in Christ. - 1 Corinthians 3:1
TODAY IN THE WORD
Recently, some Christian colleges loosened rules for how students dress and spend their leisure time. One reversed its no-dancing policy for students and no-drinking policy for faculty and staff—a long overdue decision, some supporters argued; a harbinger of moral laxity, opponents disputed.

Centuries after the church in Corinth, groups still use different criteria to evaluate spirituality. How do we preserve moral standards and a spiritual climate in our Christian communities? Some denominations value the manifestation of certain spiritual gifts to show that someone is spiritually mature. In other churches, the mastery of biblical knowledge is highly prized. For still other churches or denominations, someone is judged by how moral he is and how well he avoids certain highly visible sins.

The Corinthians judged one another by worldly standards of wisdom and eloquence and classified one another by these false categories. As Paul had argued, their standards were informed by the values of the culture, not the values of the cross. The result was factional in-fighting and attitudes of haughty superiority. Many within the church believed that they had attained a superior wisdom and spiritual standing, and this inflated their sense of self-importance.

Paul takes direct aim at their pride in the opening verses of chapter three. For those who take pride in their supposed spiritual maturity, he calls them worldly and infantile. In fact, he notes that he cannot even address them spiritually when they don’t have the spiritual maturity to understand or embrace what he says?

Paul radically redefines worldliness here. It isn’t the absence of spiritual knowledge (as the Corinthians might have thought) or moral laxity (as we tend to think). Worldliness is stubborn willfulness and inflated self-importance when it comes to matters of opinion. This attitude of pride and superiority leads to division and to jealousy. Haughty arrogance and self-certainty destroys the health of a Christian community. This is in direct contrast to the attitude of our Savior (see Phil. 2:5-11).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
When we think about advancing in our spiritual life, we often set our sights on knowing more Scripture, serving more vigorously, and avoiding sin. And all these are good! But we also need to take inventory of our relationships. Do any of those relationships suffer from a willful pride in our heart? Do we esteem ourselves better than another? Have we valued unity in the body of Christ as much as Paul does in his letter to the Corinthians? If there are relationships in your church that you can take a step toward mending, do that today.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 2:8-10
Salvation comes from the LORD. - Jonah 2:9
TODAY IN THE WORD
The great hymnwriter Charles Wesley exulted in God’s love: “Love divine, all loves excelling, Joy of heav’n, to earth come down! / Fix in us Thy humble dwelling; All Thy faithful mercies crown. / Jesus, Thou art all compassion; Pure, unbounded love Thou art. / Visit us with Thy salvation; Enter every trembling heart. . . . Finish then Thy new creation; Pure and spotless let us be. / Let us see Thy great salvation, Perfectly restored in Thee. / Changed from glory into glory, Till in heav’n we take our place, / Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise.”

In this classic hymn, as in today’s Scripture reading, we hear the praise and prayer of a man who rejoices in God’s salvation. From a rebellious and disobedient prophet, Jonah was transformed into a man who worshiped, gave thanks, and promised, “What I have vowed I will make good” (v. 9). By this he meant he would be obedient to God’s call on his life—he would go to Nineveh and deliver God’s message. No more running; no more fighting. “Salvation comes from the LORD” indeed! After the miracles and acts of God already recorded, there came one more. The fish “vomited Jonah onto dry land” (v. 10). This is not very flattering language, but the prophet’s life was saved. That’s why Jonah pitied those “who cling to worthless idols” when the one true God alone deserves faith and worship.

God knew very well that Jonah still had much to learn, but He had mercy on him anyway. The rest of the book testifies to the fact that the prophet persisted in his sin of failing to love his neighbor, a sin rooted in misunderstanding the heart of God and His love for the world. While today’s reading shows a heart yearning once again for the Lord, later events would show this same heart to be made of stone (4:10-11). Isn’t this typical of human nature? We repent, then backslide; confess our sin, then repeat it; and return to the Lord, only to find our self-deception and sin run deeper than we had imagined. And He loves us anyway!

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Part of the transformation God worked in Jonah’s heart was to make him willing to receive grace. The prophet had resisted God’s merciful pursuit, preferring to drown in the Mediterranean rather than cry out to the Lord. Until he came to his senses, he had been among those willing to “forfeit the grace that could be theirs” (v. 8). Like Jonah, we should know better. But all too often we cling to our own ways rather than casting ourselves upon God’s mercy and grace.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 3:1-4
Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD. - Jonah 3:3
TODAY IN THE WORD
Charles Thomas Studd was a child of privilege. Born into a wealthy family and educated at Oxford, his father came to Christ as a result of the ministry of D. L. Moody and Ira Sankey. Studd trusted in Christ while in college, when a visiting preacher asked if he believed God’s promises. When his brother became ill, Studd determined that his priorities needed to change. “I know that cricket would not last, and honour would not last, and nothing in this world would last, but it was worthwhile living for the world to come” he later wrote. C. T. Studd decided to become an evangelist and missionary to China.

Like C. T. Studd, Jonah was called to bring the word of the Lord to a foreign nation. Given a second chance in today’s reading—in the uproar, God’s plan had not changed one iota (vv. 1-2)—this time he chose obedience to God’s call (v. 3). Thanks to God’s grace, Jonah’s ministry didn’t end because of one mistake, even though that mistake was a whopper!

Nineveh had a population of 120,000 people. The city’s double inner wall was 50 feet wide, 100 feet high, and eight miles in circumference. An outer wall protected outlying towns, villages, and fields, and made the overall city about 60 miles in circumference. That’s why it took Jonah three days to walk around Nineveh.

How might the people of this powerful city have been expected to respond to his message? From a human perspective, their rejection of Jonah was inevitable. He was, after all, a foreign prophet of a foreign God. He brought a ridiculous message that a major city of the reigning world superpower would be overthrown. Furthermore, this would take place in only 40 days, with not a threat on the horizon.

Jonah did not think the Ninevites would heed his words, much less repent of their sins. As events unfold, it becomes clear that he didn’t want them to do either one. His sermon is one of the shortest ever recorded, a mere eight words (v. 4). It conveyed only the promise of judgment with no mention of repentance or mercy. Jonah obeyed . . . but his effort was reluctant and halfhearted.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We could say that God is a “God of second chances,” and it would be true. But it would be more true to talk about third chances, tenth chances, seventy-seventh chances, and ten thousandth chances. God’s patience runs deep! And it’s a good thing, too, because most of us need many more than two chances to learn the spiritual lessons He’s trying to teach us. Praise the Lord that He is such a longsuffering Teacher and that He has compassion on all of us “slow students.”

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 3:5-9
The Ninevites believed God. - Jonah 3:5
TODAY IN THE WORD
As reported in Leadership Journal, a recent survey found that religious faith in America is decreasing. The number of those identifying themselves as “Christian” has gone down by 11 percent since 1990. The answer “None” (15%) was the only category to grow in all 50 states, and it was the fastest-growing category across the board. The “Don’t know/confused” category also grew significantly. One of the survey’s co-authors commented that people are more or less making up their own religious identities and tend to view religion mainly as a form of self-expression.

The results of this survey suggest that had it been Americans instead of Ninevites hearing the message of Jonah, we might not have responded as they did. Despite the prophet’s halfhearted, short-and-not-very-sweet sermon, the people of Nineveh began repenting as soon as they heard it! Though from a human perspective their response was completely unexpected, as explained in yesterday’s devotion, it was no surprise to God. Clearly He had been preparing the hearts of these pagans to heed His message and receive His mercy. The credit certainly shouldn’t go to Jonah—he made about as feeble an effort as one can imagine. Rather, God had set the stage and the time was ripe. When Jonah finally obeyed, events unfolded exactly as God intended. Jonah himself had sensed God’s purposes and been (sinfully) afraid this would happen (4:2).

The Assyrians of Nineveh “believed God” (v. 5). They responded humbly to the words of condemnation and judgment brought by Jonah. They fasted and wore sackcloth to indicate the urgency of their sorrow over sin, the sincerity of their repentance, and their willingness to submit themselves to the Lord’s will. From the least to the greatest, they accepted individual and collective responsibility for their sins. The king led the city in casting their fate upon God’s mercy (vv. 8-9). God was satisfied with the genuineness of their faith and suspended His judgment at that time. Sadly, as we’ll learn in Nahum, this revival did not endure.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Why did God forgive a cruel and idolatrous city like Nineveh? Because that’s the kind of God He is: “If that nation I warned repents of its evil, then I will relent and not inflict on it the disaster I had planned” (Jer. 18:7-8). Our God has made us the same promise that He is “faithful and just and will forgive us our sins” (1 John 1:9). Confession of sin needs to be a regular spiritual discipline in our lives.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 3:10
I the LORD do not change. - Malachi 3:6
TODAY IN THE WORD
Nineteenth-century preacher Charles Spurgeon clarified the doctrine of the immutability of God by identifying six areas in which God does not change: essence, attributes, plans, promises, threatenings (that is, promises of judgment), and in the objects of His love. About God’s essence, for example, he explained: “The fabric of which this world is made is ever passing away. . . . But God is perpetually the same. He is not composed of any substance or material, but is spirit—pure, essential, and ethereal spirit—and therefore he is immutable. He remains everlastingly the same. There are no furrows on his eternal brow . . . he sees ages pass, but with him it is ever now. He is the great I AM—the Great Unchangeable.”

If the Lord is “the Great Unchangeable,” how are we to comprehend His apparent change of mind about the fate of Nineveh? Biblical narratives represent His actions in this way on a number of occasions (e.g., Gen. 6:1-11; Ex. 32:9-19). One response is that God’s “change of mind” depends on our human perspective within time. God is eternal, not subject to time, and so His plans and actions with regard to Nineveh look different to Him than they do to us. A second response is that the message of judgment brought by Jonah was fulfilled, but on a delayed timeline. As we’ll discover when we study the book of Nahum (Sept. 14-22), when the city of Nineveh later resumed its sinful ways it was completely destroyed, just as God said it would be.

A third response to this dilemma is to think of “immutability” primarily in terms of the character of God. He gives multiple chances. He loves all peoples. He acts with mercy and lovingkindness. He is responsive to repentant hearts. He honors faith. He forgives. This is the kind of God He is, at all times, “everlastingly the same.” In the end, faith trusts both that God is unchangeable and that biblical stories of Him “changing His mind” are true. Such paradoxes are, after all, merely beyond our comprehension. One day we shall understand such matters far more clearly (see 1 Cor. 13:12).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
God’s “immutability” is not an abstract theological doctrine, but a nourishing root for our daily spiritual lives. The unwavering faithfulness of God means we can stand firm in our faith. He does not play hide-and-seek with His expectations and commands. His holiness, justice, and love are eternally the same. He always acts in perfect accord with all of His attributes. “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever” (Heb. 13:8). Amen and amen!

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 4:6-9
God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? - Job 36:22
TODAY IN THE WORD
You might have enjoyed a slice of ice-cold watermelon over the recent Labor Day weekend. Chances are, though, that your watermelon would have been dwarfed by the world record watermelon grown several years ago in Hope, Arkansas. Lloyd Bright, a retired school administrator, and his family have grown watermelons for more than 40 years. They have broken the world record three different times—with a 200-pound melon in 1979, a 260-pound melon in 1985, and a 268.8-pound melon in 2005.

Watermelons, of course, grow on vines. Oddly, here in the closing paragraphs of the story of Jonah, a vine takes center stage. Many commentators believe it was a castor oil plant, due to its quick growth and large leaves. In the same way that God provided the “great fish,” He also provided the plant, the worm, and the wind (vv. 6-8). He hadn’t given up on teaching Jonah a spiritual lesson, and He used nature as a parable to drive the point home. The dramatic rescue-at-sea had partially done the job, in that

Jonah had given up on rebellion and chosen obedience. Now as the prophet sat grumpily outside Nineveh, God continued to teach His servant about Himself. Yes, the city had deserved judgment, but then they had repented and accepted God’s mercy. Sound familiar? Jonah, too, had deserved judgment for his blatant disobedience, but given a chance, he had repented and accepted God’s mercy.

What right, then, God asked for the second time, did Jonah have to be angry (v. 9a)? None whatsoever. It’s a rhetorical question. But Jonah, willfully and irrationally and pridefully, asserted he did have a right to be angry (v. 9b). Despite the momentary happiness over the shade God had provided, Jonah’s feelings remained unchanged. He felt “suicidal” not only over God’s mercy being extended to the Ninevites but also over the withering of a single vine. The miracle is that God used such a man for ministry! We learn here that God as a teacher is patient yet forceful, compassionate yet unrelenting, and determined to purify the human heart of sin.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Have you ever found yourself lecturing God on what He should do? It’s prideful and irrational and stubborn to “know better” than God. He’s the sovereign King of the universe and His ways are incomprehensibly higher than ours (see Isa. 55:8-9)! It’s not that God doesn’t want to hear what we have to say—check the Psalms for examples of emotionally honest language—but our proper attitude before Him should be one of reverence, submission, and worship.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Jonah 4:10-11
Should I not be concerned about that great city? - Jonah 4:11
TODAY IN THE WORD
The classic story How the Grinch Stole Christmas, by Dr. Seuss, suggests the reason the Grinch hated Christmas “may have been that his heart was two sizes too small.” With such a heart, the Grinch could not comprehend the joy and generosity displayed during the holiday season by “every Who down in Who-ville.” He hated it all with such a passion that one Christmas Eve he snuck into Who-ville and stole all the gifts, decorations, and food for their feast. Yet the next morning the Whos gathered in the center of town to sing Christmas songs. Listening, the Grinch’s heart was transformed—some say it even “grew three sizes that day”!

We can only hope the same thing happened to Jonah. He looks even worse in chapter 4 than in chapter 1, if that’s possible. But perhaps God’s rebuke at the close of the book convicted him of sin and spurred a change of heart. What happened next is not recorded, but the very existence of the book of Jonah, assuming it was written by the prophet himself, as tradition holds, surely counts as evidencefor a positive conclusion. A man who could write a book in which he is both the main character and a fool is one who has seen himself through God’s eyes and realized the depths of his own sinfulness.

At this point in the narrative, Jonah was specifically guilty of a callous heart. He mourned for a dead plant but had no compassion on an entire city. He cared for a random vine but not for 120,000 people to whom he had been called to bring a word from the Lord. He showed more interest in his personal comfort than in the spiritual well-being of others. He reacted coldly to the amazing repentance of the Ninevites, yet professed despair over the natural withering of a single plant. His “pain” is selfish and absurd. Israel enjoyed God’s law and covenant, but morally and spiritually these Assyrians could not “tell their right hand from their left.” God had mercifully sent them a real prophet—a prophet who turned out to need a dramatic lesson on the love of God (cf. Matt. 5:43-44).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
We would never behave like Jonah . . . would we? He grew irritated over the loss of a small comfort (the shade of a plant) while caring nothing for a lost city. Leaving our material comforts to go elsewhere and do God’s will doesn’t sound appealing. Are we open to being called to a less comfortable place? It might be translating the Bible in a remote jungle. It might be spending your days with prisoners in your own city. Don’t cling to whatever “vines” are holding you back!

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Nahum 1:1
God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the chief cornerstone. - Ephesians 2:19-20
TODAY IN THE WORD
Marian Anderson was a renowned African American contralto. Looking for a concert venue in Washington, D.C., her agent discovered that Constitution Hall, owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), was available only to white artists. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who was on the DAR board, resigned in protest and helped arrange for the concert to be held instead on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, 1939, a record audience gathered there, with millions more listening on the radio. Anderson opened by singing, “My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.” Later she would sing at the inaugurations of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, among many other achievements and awards.

Anderson thought of herself as a musician, not a civil rights hero, but her story of achievement required perseverance, courage, and justice. The book of Nahum is also about courage and justice. It was risky for Nahum to prophesy judgment on Nineveh, because Assyria was a powerful empire known for its cruel treatment of defeated nations and leaders. This message of justice included God’s condemnation of Nineveh’s sin. More than a century after Jonah’s time, Nineveh was completely destroyed in 612 B.C. as an act of divine judgment.

As a prophet, Nahum is among those who constitute the foundation of our faith (Eph. 2:19-20). He ministered during the reign of Josiah, likely overlapping with a young Jeremiah. His name means “comfort” or “consolation” and his message of judgment on Assyria, which had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C., would certainly have been a word of comfort or consolation for Judah. Nothing is known about his hometown of Elkosh. The book of Nahum is not a narrative like Jonah, but rather resembles other prophetic books in that it is an “oracle” or a “vision,” meaning a prophetic message or sermon. Most oracles contain a message of blessing to balance the one of judgment, but that is not the case here.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Each generation must take responsibility for its own moral and spiritual choices (Ezek. 18:20-24). In Jonah’s day, the people of Nineveh responded with repentant hearts to the word of the Lord. But the Ninevites of Nahum’s day made different choices and stood guilty before God. Their city would be permanently destroyed as a result of their wickedness. While past church leaders and revivals are a heritage from God, they cannot replace our responsibility to be faithful.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Nahum 1:2-6
The LORD is slow to anger and great in power. - Nahum 1:3
TODAY IN THE WORD
The first African ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize was Albert John Lutuli, a nephew of Zulu kings who himself was elected Chief. Born in modern-day Zimbabwe, he was in 1952 elected President of the African National Congress (ANC), which opposed the apartheid regime in South Africa. During Lutuli’s 15-year leadership of the ANC, their protests were mostly peaceful, including a bus boycott. One reason Lutuli fought for racial justice was his deeply held Christian faith. He said: “My own urge because I am a Christian, is to get into the thick of the struggle . . . taking my Christianity with me and praying that it may be used to influence for good the character of the resistance.”

As we see in today’s reading, justice was also one of the main concerns of the prophet Nahum. Chapter 1 is primarily a description of the character of God, as historically contextualized in His judgment on Nineveh. In the first part of the chapter, Nahum focused on the justice and power of the wrath of God, while in the second part he dealt more with God’s patience and holiness. In today’s reading, we find a poetic picture of a God who hates the worship of false idols, punishes sin, and feels righteous anger at evil (vv. 2-3a). He is slow to anger, great in power, and perfect in justice. We also find a poetic picture of God’s power, conveyed through natural imagery (vv. 3b-5). Like a whirlwind or fierce storm, God’s power is beyond human control. To say He can dry up seas and rivers and cause Bashan, Carmel, and Lebanon (all fruitful places) to wither is to say He has control over even the elements of nature. It’s like saying He can wipe out the corn in Iowa or the oranges in Florida. This kind of absolute power inspires holy fear, as pictured in the mountains quaking and the hills melting.

To conclude, Nahum asks, “Who can withstand his indignation?” (v. 6). No one, of course. God’s wrath is like a consuming fire—it will destroy whatever He chooses. It made no difference that Assyria was a world superpower. This wicked nation would be utterly unable to stand against the righteous power of God.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Some people want to ignore God’s wrath and judgment. They say there’s the “God of the Old Testament,” but the “God of the New Testament” is all about love. But there is only one God and He’s the God of the whole Bible. He’s merciful and loving in both testaments, and holy and righteous in both testaments. His holy wrath and judgment are found throughout Scripture. The fact that judgment is also a New Testament doctrine can be seen, for example, in Romans 2:1-10.

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Nahum 1:7-11
The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. - Nahum 1:7
TODAY IN THE WORD
When Elena Desserich was just five years old, doctors diagnosed her with pediatric brain cancer. Her parents didn’t tell her the news, but somehow she must have come to understand what was happening in the nine months before she died. After her passing in 2007, her parents and little sister found hundreds of her notes written on scraps of paper tucked in random corners all over the house. Elena loved to draw, and many of her notes featured purple hearts and the words, “I love you.” She had hidden them everywhere for her family to find.

Such incredible love in the heart of a dying child inspires awe. God’s love, the source and fountain of all human love, is awe-inspiring as well. In today’s reading, Nahum’s description of God’s character continues, this time focusingon His lovingkindness. He is good, a caring refuge for those who trust in Him (v. 7). This doesn’t mean He’s a pushover. He is just in His condemnation of Nineveh’s sin (vv. 8-10). And He is powerful—there is no escape from His judgment. To be enemies of the Lord is to be doomed. They will be burned up like stubble in a dry field. There is no way to resist His will. No plot can possibly succeed against His sovereign decree. Those who try will be caught in their own traps or made drunk by their own wine—that is, people will reap what they sow. To be God’s enemy is synonymous with being wicked, leading to the opposite inference that to be God’s friend is to pursue love and righteousness.

The identity of the “one” in verse 11 is uncertain. Some commentators think it was Sennacherib (1 Kings 19), while others speculate it might have been Ashurbanipal, the last great emperor of Assyria. In any case, Assyria had chosen the wrong “refuge” or stronghold, trusting in its military power above all. The city of Nineveh was well-known for its strong walls (see September 8). These, however, were nothing compared to the strength and power of God. No refuge is perfectly secure except Him (cf. Pss. 9:9; 46:1; 59:16).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Reaping what one sows is a general moral principle God has built into the structure of the universe (see Job 4:8). This principle is not absolute, or we would all reap the penalty of death for our sins (Rom. 6:23). God’s grace and mercy rescue and redeem us from normal processes of cause and effect, and getting what we deserve. Even so, we are not to presume upon His grace but rather we are to live as those who have been freed from slavery to sin (Rom. 6:1-6).

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Nahum 1:12-15
God is a righteous judge, a God who expresses his wrath every day. - Psalm 7:11
TODAY IN THE WORD
Earlier this year, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) built the world’s most precise clock. It is an experimental atomic clock based on a single aluminum atom, and according to NIST measurements it won’t alter as much as one second in 3.7 billion years. By comparison, the current national clock for civilians, kept by a NIST-F1 cesium fountain clock, can keep to within one second for “only” 100 million years. The NIST physicists call their latest effort a “quantum logic clock.”

By any measure, Nineveh’s time had run out. God had been patient, but He is holy and will not tolerate evil forever. Though Israel was God’s chosen people, this hadn’t exempted them from His judgment on their sins. And though Assyria had been God’s instrument of judgment on the northern kingdom, this wouldn’t protect them from His judgment on their sins as well. Assyria’s military strength and numerous allies wouldn’t matter (v. 12). God’s judgment was a sure thing. This judgment would be more than a military defeat, though that was part of it. It would also be a spiritual defeat, in which false idols were destroyed and God’s supremacy vindicated. The prophecy included a cultural shocker—no descendants and a “vile” or “worthless” grave (v. 14). A family line or people group dying out was the worst fate imaginable.

Nahum spoke of Nineveh’s destruction as an accomplished fact (v. 15). From his point of view, the messenger was already arriving in Judah with the good news of peace—the good news that an antagonist had been defeated. For God’s people, it would be as though a yoke had been broken or chains removed (v. 13). The former conqueror, Assyria, would itself be overthrown and the nation would again be free to celebrate holy days and keep vows, that is, to pursue covenant faithfulness and worship the Lord. How complete would Nineveh’s destruction be? Centuries later, during a battle involving Alexander the Great, he would not even realize that it took place near the site of the former imperial capital.

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Nahum’s picture of the “one who brings good news” (v. 15) reminds us of a picture of a person who spreads the gospel. In the words of Isaiah: “How beautiful on the mountains are the feet of those who bring good news, who proclaim . . . salvation” (52:7; cf. Rom. 10:13-15). Having “beautiful feet” and actively sharing the good news of the gospel is the calling of every follower of Christ. Are we being faithful to bring life-giving news to others and glory to God?

[Soldier4Christ]

Read: Nahum 2:1-10
Nineveh is like a pool, and its water is draining away. - Nahum 2:8
TODAY IN THE WORD
After finishing dead last among the 32 teams in the 1998 World Cup, no one expected much from the U.S. men’s national soccer team in 2002. Their first opponent, Portugal, was widely considered a dark horse favorite to win the tournament. So when the Americans scored three goals in the first half against the overconfident Portuguese and went on to win the game 3-2, the sports world was stunned! The U.S. team made it to the quarterfinals that year in their best modern World Cup showing ever.

The phrase “how the mighty have fallen” describes the Portuguese defeat in that memorable soccer match, as well as the conquest of Nineveh in today’s reading. Though God’s righteous judgment of Nineveh was clear in chapter 1, Nahum wasn’t ready to leave the topic just yet. Chapter 2 gives us a vivid narrative of the city’s downfall. We might imagine that the messenger of Nahum 1:15 has arrived and is delivering this news or telling this story to a highly appreciative audience. First, there is an announcement, a mocking warning to Nineveh to brace for an attack (v. 1). The narrative then mentions the big picture of national Jewish restoration (v. 2) before picturing the arrival of an impressive enemy army at the gates of Nineveh (v. 3). The battle is soon over in the city’s outer section, as the invaders’ chariots roam freely through the streets (v. 4). Behind the inner walls, things aren’t going well either. Elite Assyrian troops stumble on the way to their defensive positions (v. 5).

Nineveh’s final defeat is pictured in terms of water, as if the city was being swept away by a flood (v. 6). The palace collapses, the battle is lost, the city is plundered, and the people are exiled (vv. 7, 9-10). In fact, many historians believe the Babylonians used the Assyrians’ own dams against them to damage their fortifications. By opening floodgates on the Khoser River, they may have won a swift victory. In a powerful final image that is then true both literally and figuratively, Nineveh spirals down the drain (v. 8).

TODAY ALONG THE WAY
Biblical prophets often spoke of the future they were predicting as if it had already happened. They knew they were speaking the absolutely true and unbreakable word of the Lord. Speaking of prophecies as accomplished involved no risk whatsoever. That’s how sure God’s promises are! As Joshua told the Israelites: “Not one of all the good promises the LORD your God gave you has failed” (Josh. 23:14). What good promise of God do you need to believe today?