SLOW TO ANGER

Nahum 1:3 “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power; the Lord will not leave the guilty unpunished.”

In today’s world it seems like good guys finish last…or at least that’s what people want us to think. Winning from God’s point-of-view is different. In the end you may not wind up with a million dollars, but you have God’s approval. True happiness in life comes from living right, with a clear conscience. When we trust in the Lord, we experience victory and we survive not only this world, but we have a guarantee for the world to come.

The prophet Nahum delivered a sober message of judgment to Nineveh, but in the middle of his harsh prophecy he offers hope. God knows us and wants to protect us. Nahum’s name means “comfort” or “consolation”. But for those who reject God, the prophet cries, “Where can I find anyone to comfort you?” (3:7). Nahum presents God as our refuge, a shelter in the time of storm.

Protection doesn’t mean a carefree life. When trials come we trust in God and seek his refuge. Faith requires trust without full knowledge; it means living with uncertainty. God chooses our circumstances and trials; we choose our attitudes and reactions to them. I’m reminded of an affirmation found written on a cellar wall in Germany where Jews hid from the Nazis: “I believe in the sun even when it is not shining. I believe in love even when I am feeling it not. I believe in God even when He is silent.”

Nahum wrote 150 years after the time of Jonah. Under Jonah’s reluctant preaching the Ninevites repented and God withheld his wrath. But their repentance wore off and they sank deeply into all kinds of sin. Nineveh was again a place of unparalleled wickedness. It was also the wealthiest city in the world, furnished with priceless objects taken as plunder from conquered nations.

God makes it plain that he is angry with Nineveh. We don’t like to think of God as being angry, yet the Bible is clear that he hates sin. You’ve likely heard about billboards along the highway with messages from God. One says, “Don’t make me come down there.” There’s an old children’s hymn that begins, “Gentle Jesus, meek and mild.” This is perfectly true about our Lord, but it is not all the truth. Jesus wept over the city of Jerusalem and prophesied that this city which rejected him would be destroyed. The Hebrew word used by Nahum for anger literally means “heavy or hot breathing”. When considering the wrath of God, there are two words we tend to confuse. One is retaliation; the other retribution. To retaliate is to seek revenge and get even. God does not retaliate. Martin Luther (in his typical manner) said, “If I was God and the world had treated me as it did Christ, I would kick the wretched thing to pieces.” In His justice, God brings retribution. Paul makes this clear in Romans when he says “The payment for sin is death” (6:23). He has the power to deliver or destroy. He offers us the option to decide which one it will be.

Yet even when God is angry at sin, he is patient with us. He holds back his vengeance. He waits for us to repent. He doesn’t slam dunk us the moment we step out of line. He is “slow to anger.” He has control over his wrath. He gives us many chances to repent. When we place our trust in Christ, God in his grace gives us what we don’t deserve—eternal life. God in his mercy does not give us what we do deserve.