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I was talking to a gentleman at presbytery, our regional church meeting, and I asked him how things were going. He said, “I am glad to see that our church is coming back together. We’re still not quite sure who’s with us, but it’s coming.” We continued our discussion, reviewing the past year. We talked about all the confusion that surrounded Covid. Then, there was all the challenges of the quarantine. Then, there was the economic challenges for many. Then, there were the political challenges and protests. Then, there was the election. Then, there was the vaccine with all the questions and difficulties it involves.
The question I ask myself as I review all this is, where do we go in times of such trouble and confusion? It’s easy to let it debilitate us. It’s easy for us to lash out at others and blame. It’s easy to simply go numb. It’s easy to let anger fester. Where do we go in such anxious times?? Nahum gives us a beautiful answer in this book, and that will be our focus for this morning: “The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble” (Nah. 1:7).
We have a refuge. We have a place to go when we are struggling. The Lord is a refuge in times of trouble.
As we consider how the Lord is a refuge from the prophet Nahum we will look at the context of God’s anger, the problem of our anger, and the solution of God as refuge.
The Context of God’s Anger
Like many of these prophets, we do not know a lot about the prophet Nahum. It seems likely that he prophesied after Jonah for reasons that will become apparent.
The main topic of this book is the kingdom of Assyria. Remember that there were five great kingdoms that ruled the Middle East. These kingdoms are extremely important for us to understand the Bible: Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Greece, and then Rome.
Assyria was the first and the worst. In light of Assyria’s insecure position, they centered their resources in their military in order to secure their nation. This led ultimately to conquest of the nations around them. They used terror to intimidate other nations. They were the poster boys for toxic masculinity. At the same time, they did some amazing things. We need to see God’s grace at work in all peoples. They built the first known library of the ancient world and collected all sorts of books there. This library was re-discovered in the 19th century and, because the books were written on clay tablets, is still a resource for us today, especially in knowledge of the ancient world. We call it the library of Ashurbanipal, after the leader who constructed it. So, it was, as God said, “a great city,” over which he had concern.
In spite of their greatness and accomplishments, God was not going to tolerate their injustice. He was going to do something about it. That’s what He wanted Jonah to tell them. When Jonah preached to the city of Nineveh, the people repented. They were sorry for their evil deeds, and they repented. As a result, God, who is merciful, gracious, and compassionate, turned from His fierce anger and relented from the harm that He was going to do to them.
Nahum continues that story. At some point, the people of Assyria went back to their old ways and repented of their repentance. Once again, they gave themselves over to injustice and cruelty. Nahum saw God as being utterly opposed to their actions. “The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance and is filled with wrath. The LORD takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his enemies” (Nahum 1:2).
Safe to say, this is not a common vision of God today. That’s one reason we need the vision of the prophets, to correct us. Some people are even offended by such a vision of God. Tim Keller, in his wonderful book, The Reason for God, makes an interesting point about this. He says, our culture is offended by a God of wrath. Other cultures, however, would be offended by a God who forgives so easily. They would be offended by the idea of turning the other cheek. Keller, recalling a conversation he had with one woman, asked, “Do you think you culture is superior to theirs?”
Keller makes an excellent point, but we can say more. In a way, our world cries out for this sort of God. There is concern about injustice. Everywhere you go, people are upset with some injustice or other. It is the topic of conversation. The world is crying out for a God who will right these wrongs, who will bring justice. That’s the vision of God we find in the prophets.
God is a God of wrath who opposes injustice. However, we do need to make a qualification. “The LORD is slow to anger . . .” (v. 3). God does not bring the hammer down immediately. He’s patient, giving people time to repent. That’s what we saw in the book of Jonah. God did not simply destroy Nineveh. He was slow to anger because He also was concerned about them. He did not want them to perish but to repent. He is patient.
That’s one of the great answers to the question of, why doesn’t God bring justice immediately and right now? Because He is patient. He is slow to anger.
Some people are confused by God’s patience, but Nahum moves immediately to make the point that tough “The LORD is slow to anger,” He is “great in power.” He does not fail to move because of any weakness on His part. In addition, His patience does not mean that He will allow injustice to go on and on because He will “not leave the guilty unpunished” (1:3). He will right the wrong. He will deal with it on our schedule in His own time.
In this case, there was the injustice of Assyria. God had used Assyria to punish Israel for their sins. They took a lot of the people of the northern tribes into captivity and moved them to another land. The question all the prophets asked was, what about Assyria? They are not so good. How can God use such an evil people to accomplish His purposes? And the answer came back clear. In the words of Isaiah, “Woe to the Assyrian, the rod of my anger, in whose hand is the club of my wrath!” (Is. 10:5). In the words of Nahum, God is good, a refuge in times of trouble, “but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness” (1:8).
It doesn’t matter how powerful they are. “Whatever they plot against the LORD he will bring to an end” (1:9). It doesn’t matter who they get to help them. “Although they have allies and are numerous, they will be destroyed and pass away” (1:12). No one can stop the Lord. The mightiest of nations will fall.
So, here are two very important points that we can learn from this. First, nations can be very powerful and productive, but that is no guarantee of their continued existence or power. Even the most powerful nation should be humble before God. The vicissitudes and changes of the nations ought make us very humble about our situation.
Second, each person should humble himself before God and repent. We should think about our ways. We have a way of filling ourselves up with busyness and activities. We need time to think and reflect on our ways. The wrath of God is coming, and none of us can claim another day. Are we ready to meet the Lord? Are we ready to die and give an account to the judge of the all the earth? We should give much more thought to this than we do.
The Problem of Our Anger
One of the most powerful forces in our lives and in history is the emotion of anger at perceived injustice. Think of the anger we felt at 9/11. This led to a decades’ long engagement in the Middle East that we are only now pulling out of. It is a powerful force.
It is a powerful force in people’s individual lives, too. Think about how much this affects people’s lives. If you talk to people you will see very quickly that they are angry. They are angry at what people have done to them, at injustices, at the nation, and so on.
This is not a bad thing. Anger is not a bad word. God describes Himself as having anger. We are made in His image and reflect that anger of God in a finite way. Anger is a God-given emotion that prepares us for action to remove obstacles and deal with injustices. It is a good emotion. It is not bad. However, anger can be destructive to our lives and to the lives of those around us. Our anger should reflect the anger of God but also take into account the difference between us and God. Let me give you four observations that may help you process what this looks like.
First, we should calibrate our anger to reality. just because we are angry does not mean that there is injustice. This is so important. Our emotions are not always calibrated to reality. When we feel anger, we look for an injustice. It may or may not be there. We often take for granted that our emotions reflect reality. However, they often do not. We need to reflect carefully on them. This is hard to do because emotions are so loud! At times, it’s like trying to ignore someone shouting in your ear. That’s why we need to learn to reflect well on what injustices we should respond to before we get angry. God’s anger is always according to truth.
Second, we should be slow to anger. This is a similar point. We should not simply follow our impulses. The Proverbs tell us that this is the way of the fool. You want to look at the stupidest things we’ve done? Look at times where we simply followed the impulse of anger. There’s more here, though. We should not be quick to find fault. We should be ready to let small things go. Even where there are real wrongs, we should give people space to repent and process. God is slow to anger, as Nahum says, and we should be like Him.
Third, we should correct the injustices that we can. We should not be passive in the face of injustice. When we can do something about it, we should. I don’t think the Civil War was started to stop slavery, but when Lincoln and others saw the opportunity to end it, they took that opportunity. Thousands of the people of our nation gave their lives to force people to end slavery. We should be ready to fight against injustice, even if it cost our lives, in certain instances. Sometimes we complain, but we do not act. We need to work for justice.
Fourth, we should not let anger debilitate us. Sometimes there are injustices we can and should correct. Other times, we cannot correct them. There are things that are beyond our control. The world is filled with such things. We can get so wound up about these things that we forget to serve God and do the things we can. I was talking to a man recently who said that he was so overwhelmed with all the wrong things he saw in our nation that he was just isolating himself and falling into depression. That is not how we should live. But what do we do with all these injustices? That leads us to our last point. The problem is our anger at injustice, and the solution is God as refuge.
The Solution of God as Refuge
We have some control of our lives, but there’s a lot of things that we do not have control over. The problem of Assyria was one that no individual could do much about, and it was one that even the leaders could do very little about. What were they supposed to do?
Well, God told them, “I will take care of it.” God was going to deal with Assyria, even though they could not. God said to Assyria, “I am against you . . . I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on the earth. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard” (2:13). God was going to deal with the problems that they could not solve. God was going to right the wrongs that they could not right.
As you listen to this message from Nahum, you will see that it is not primarily directed toward Assyria. The main point is to cause the hearts of the people to rejoice that God will bring a satisfying solution to the injustices of the world. “Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Celebrate, your festivals, Judah, and fulfill your vows. No more will the wicked invade you; they will be completely destroyed” (1:15). What God is saying is that God will deal with those who bring terror. He will do this at the end of history and in history! God is at work. The book ends with rejoicing at this fact, “All who hear the news about you clap their hands at your fall, for who has not felt your endless cruelty?” (3:19).
The comfort of this passage is indicated in the name of the prophet, Nahum, which means “comforter.” God’s justice is a comfort for oppressed people.
In this way, God is a refuge. When we feel oppressed and angry, we have a place to go. We have somewhere to land with our emotions and struggles. We can find hope in that God is good and will care for those who trust in Him.
However, it’s not easy to see God as a refuge. It’s a battle to have faith when the injustice is so clear and the anger is so loud.
Let’s be real here. Imagine you have a child or children taken from you. That is an injustice that would simply tear your heart out. What if you had a divorce and the judge said, you can’t see your kids? How would you deal with it? How do you keep going and have any hope? That may seem extreme, but that’s what some of Nahum’s hearers probably had faced or worse! The message of God as a just judge is a refuge for those who are struggling with problems as dark as this one.
What if you were on top of the world? What if you were doing really well in your job and at the type of a corporation? Then, you discover that several people in the organization are criminals and in trouble. The company is under scrutiny. Then, they find a way to pin it on you. You lose your job and end up flipping burgers at McDonald’s because that’s the only type of job you can get because of the slander against you. What do you do with such grievous injustice? How do you find any way go forward? We have a refuge.
But it’s not easy. Read the psalms. They are written by people who have emotions screaming in their face telling them to despair and hold on to the anger. But the psalms are the book of those who were also able to hear the voice of God and find the victory of faith in the face of injustices like I’m talking about here.
It’s the victory of faith that enabled our Lord Jesus, facing the most unjust sentence in the history of the world, to say from the heart, “Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” It’s in careful reflection, meditation, and prayer by the power and grace of the Holy Spirit that we arrive at the place where we can find joy in the midst of the sorrow. That’s the vision of the prophets, where we find the affirmation in the midst of the worst injustices, “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in Him” (Nahum 1:7).
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