Today's reading: Nahum 1-2; Hebrews 3-4
For as much as we have seen and discussed lately the fact that God is not sitting up in heaven, excitedly looking around for an opportunity to judge, He is a God of justice and will not let evil go unpunished.
Nahum directs his oracle against Nineveh, the capital of Assyria, Israel's primary enemy at that point in time. However, while his words are directed at Assyria, nobody was taking this scroll to Nineveh to read before the king, and, unlike Jonah, God did not send Nahum to Nineveh himself. The words were directed to Assyria, but they weren't written for the Assyrians, but for Israel.
The book of Nahum was an encouragement and an assurance to God's people in the midst of a very tumultuous time. Israel was supposed to be God's people, and He was supposed to be able to preserve and protect them, but here they are being held over the coals by the Assyrian army. Where is God in this? Why isn't He doing anything about it? Is He not able stop Assyria, or does He just not care?
The fact of the matter is, as God declared through prophet after prophet, Assyria's assault on Israel was His doing. Israel ignored His warnings not to chase after other gods, and as idolatry and corruption increased in the land, God brought increasingly severe judgements on His people to try to shake them out of their spiritual rebellion. This eventually culminated in the Assyrian invasion, the exile of the Northern tribes, and the siege of Jerusalem, which was only ultimately broken by an act of God (still future for Nahum).
The words of Nahum assure Israel, in the midst of Assyrian assault, that God is not impotent to deal with Assyria, and He is not done with His people. Assyria will be punished for what they are doing (as God says through Isaiah, because they are not doing it for Him, but out of pride), and He will rescue a faithful remnant of His people. So Judah can, and should, "keep your feasts, and fulfill your vows," because this isn't going to be the end of them if they hold fast to the Lord.
So yes, God is not excited or quick to judge, and He is not sitting around just waiting for us to mess up so that He can rain down punishment from on high, but He is also not a God who will sit idly by and allow evil to run rampant forever. He is loving, and He is kind, but He is also just, and I am very grateful for that aspect of our God.
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