Currently, I am reading a book by Warren Wiersbe, Be
Amazed: Restoring An Attitude Of Wonder And Worship, a study of the Minor
Prophets. Currently I am in the study of Nahum and his prophecy against, and
the fulfillment of this prophecy against Nineveh.
As you may remember, years earlier, Jonah had gone and
preached against Nineveh and they had repented; thus, God spared them. Now,
many years later, that nation had returned to their wicked ways and once again,
God was ready to deal with them. Rather than go into a lengthy discussion here,
you can read this book yourself, I want to focus on a few questions at the end
of this chapter that I feel led to share with you.
1.
How do you understand God’s pity and
compassion alongside His jealousy, anger, and wrath?
2.
As you observe your neighbors or
relatives, would you say they deserve God’s judgement? Why or why not? How does
God see them?
3.
According to Wiersbe, what are the three
reasons Nahum gives why Nineveh deserves to be judged?
4.
Wiersbe states that “people become like
the god that they worship (Ps. 115:8), for what we believe determines how we
behave.” If you look at the behavior of non-Christians around you, what would
you say they worship? What about the behavior of people who attend your church?
How do you understand God’s pity and compassion
alongside His jealousy, anger, and wrath?
I think that we clearly see a perfect example here in the
book of Nahum, especially when compared to the book of Jonah. Nineveh was the
capital of Assyria and a very wicked city/nation; their cruelty was
unimaginable. God had sent Jonah to Nineveh to warn them about His coming judgement,
but they repented and God spared them. I would say that the book of Jonah is
more about Jonah and his rebellion against God because of his hatred for the
Ninevites and God’s love and mercy than it is about Nineveh’s repentance. God’s
love for this wicked people is greater than His anger against them; this is
Jonah’s main concern. While some argue that Jonah was afraid of the people
because of their cruelty, I believe, based on Jonah’s own wording, that he wasn’t
afraid of the people, but rather he knew if they repented, God would spare them
and Jonah did not want them spared, he wanted them dead.
Jump ahead to Nahum’s time and we see Nineveh had returned
to their old and wicked ways. This time, they did not repent and God delivered
His hand of justice. He used the armies of the Medes and Babylonians to destroy
them and destroy them they did. God could have used Israel to subdue the
Assyrians or He could have done it supernaturally, as He had done in times
past, but this time He chose to use another foe that was just as cruel.
I hear people talk about God being an angry tyrant in the
sky, or they may argue that the God of the Old Testament is not the same as the
God of the New Testament; I would argue that they are one and the same and, in
all cases, He is loving and merciful but a righteous judge at the same time. I
think the story of Nineveh demonstrates this sufficiently.
As you observe your neighbors or relatives, would you
say they deserve God’s judgement? Why or why not? How does God see them?
It is easy to see this through our own eyes, with our own
biases, and through our own emotions but that is simply a flawed way of viewing
things. We tend to view people by whether we like/love them or by comparing
them to ourselves. We love our children and parents so we might extend more
grace to them, overlooking the wrong they have done but in contrast, we might
judge more harshly our neighbor, if we don’t like them, for doing the same
things we overlook in our family members.
We also tend to judge others based on how good or bad we see
them, especially in comparison to ourselves. You might say, “Look at that, I
can’t believe they did that. I would never do that!” On the other hand, we
might exalt others, say a preacher or humanitarian, and think, “I wish I was
more like them.” We tend to put some on pedestals while condemning others to
hell.
Remember, “What would Jesus do?” Well, the Bible tells us
what He would do in these circumstances. He would reach out in love and offer
forgiveness to the one who humbles himself, but He would judge the one who is
outwardly good but inwardly corrupt. Remember the story of the two men who went
into the temple to pray, one a priest and the other a tax collector? If you don’t
know the story, I won’t ruin it for you, you can find it in Luke 18:9-14.
The Bible says that we all fall short and deserve God’s
judgement (Romans 3:23) so I would say we, our relatives, friends, and
neighbors deserve judgement; however, God is willing to forgive and heal us.
Isn’t that beautiful?
According to Wiersbe, what are the three reasons Nahum
gives why Nineveh deserves to be judged?
The three reasons given are: ruthless bloodshed, idolatry,
and pride. The Ninevites/Assyrians were notorious for their ruthlessness and
disregard for human life. One of the many cruelties was skinning people alive
where they would die a slow and agonizing death. They murdered men, women, and
children.
They did not worship the one true God, they worshipped idols.
According to Wiersbe, there primary deity was Ishtar, the goddess of sexual
passion, fertility, and war. Jehovah, the God of the Bible, is a jealous God. I
remember years ago, Oprah Winfrey stated that she had a problem with a God who
was jealous of us. Oprah, Oprah, Oprah, how little you know or understand.
Instead of researching this, she chose to walk away from her faith. How sad.
Not all jealousy is bad. Wiersbe writes, “Jealousy is a sin if it means being
envious of what others have and wanting to possess it, but it’s a virtue if it
means cherishing what we have and wanting to protect it.” He further
illustrates by giving the example of marriage and how spouses want to protect
and defend each other and keep their marriage exclusive. If only Oprah had done
a little research…
“For all that is in the world – the lust of the flesh,
the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life – is not of the Father but is of
the world.” - 1 John 2:16, NKJV
Pride. The Bible speaks often about the subject. I won’t go
into details but suffice it to say, pride is evil and leads to destruction. The
pride of Nineveh was in their might. They thought no army could defeat theirs or
capture their city. They were wrong!
Wiersbe states that “people become like the god that
they worship (Ps. 115:8), for what we believe determines how we behave.” If you
look at the behavior of non-Christians around you, what would you say they
worship? What about the behavior of people who attend your church?
I have written about world views before, a Christian
world view vs. a secular world view, and how that affects what and why we
do what we do or think the way we think. As Christians, our desires should
align with God’s desires. How we think and act should align with what God
thinks and how He acts (look at the life of Jesus while on earth). Everything
we are, should be based on God, as found in His Word, but is only able to be
lived out as we are filled with the Holy Spirit, we cannot do it in our own
strength. This is not to say an unbeliever cannot live a good and moral life,
they can, but they cannot live a holy life as we are commanded to do.
If you look at our society today, what god does it look like
we worship? I would say the god of this age. Going back to the three sins that caused God
to pour out His judgement on Nineveh, let’s look at ourselves in comparison:
Ruthless Bloodshed. The violence and corruption today
is staggering. The amount of murders and physical assaults is unthinkable. The
suicide rate seems to go up every year and yes, suicide is murder, but the
biggest murder rate is from abortion. Hands down, abortion kills more than all
other murders put together. When a nation butchers it’s most defenseless and
vulnerable, it is not the God of heaven that we worship but the God of this age.
Over and over, the Bible speaks of the judgement to come for taking human life
but no judgement so severe as the murder of children. Strange how little this
is mentioned in most churches…
Idolatry. Do we know more about
the Bible or what goes on in Hollywood? Do we know more about the Bible or the
television lineup? Do we know more about the Bible or who’s dating who or whose
marriage is on the rocks? Do we know more about the Bible or what sports teams
are heading to the playoffs? I could go on, but I think you get the picture. I
once heard a man say, “What we run to in our time of need is our god.” Do we
run for alcohol, pills, or something else when we are hurting or afraid? Is
food our go-to for comfort or facing problems? What about cutting or other
forms of self-harm? Does shopping fix things for you? I think we see many
things people turn to instead of God and this is idolatry.
Pride. I deserve free
education. I deserve to be happy. I deserve… My teams better than yours. My
family has more money than yours. My house is nicer… Get the idea? You know, it’s
funny how those who hate former President Donald Trump attack his ideas of
patriotism and national pride, like those are bad things. He stated that as he
would look out for what was best for America, others should look out for what
was best for them, but that than we could sit down and negotiate deals that
would be mutually beneficial. Call me stupid but I can’t see how he was wrong
for saying this. I mean, if your car is nicer than mine and you live in a
better neighborhood…. I do see something wrong with this, it is prideful and
hurtful. You offer me nothing in the way of a benefit.
I’m not sure how good of an argument that was but the idea
is that we are so prideful, we demean others for being prideful but can’t see
our own pride that is so much worse. We tend to think that what we have, we
deserve or that we earned it. How many believe they will go to heaven because
they are good? More than you think. I’ve even talked to Sunday School teachers,
deacons, and pastors that believe this way. How prideful! That we can earn God’s
favor, especially in light of His Word, is extremely prideful.
Another act of pride is to judge God. “God is a tyrant and a
killjoy.” “God is so mean, I don’t want to live with Him in heaven.” “If God
really cared about us then why so much pain and suffering?” These are common
questions, or better put, statements, and are the highest form of pride. How
dare we sit and judge our Creator! However, if we struggle with these as questions
but are willing to seek the answers in truth, God will give us the answers and
do so in love. He can handle our questions but He expects us to not stop at the
question mark but look for the truth.
In addressing the last part of the question, “What about the behavior of people who attend your church?” Is there any real difference? Not so much that I can see and it breaks my heart. So many in the church today look just like their unbelieving friends and neighbors. In regard to Christian living and the church, many are more concerned with activities: who’s here, are donuts and coffee available, ending the sermon on time so as to beat others to the buffet line, etc. Sure, there is talk about missions and supporting the church’s work and all, but what about the family next door that just lost their business? Our child’s friend at school that’s struggling? The garbage man that just lost his wife? Oh, you didn’t know about those things? What shows come on tonight and what channel? Bet you knew that!
I am not trying
to sit in judgement but rather hold up a mirror for all of us to look
at.
Does what we know matter?
Do we really know what matters?
.
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