SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 12/29/2025
10:44 AM
My
Worship Time Focus: Intro
to “Comfort through Judgment”
Bible
Reading & Meditation Reference: Nahum
1:9-15
Message of the verses: “9 ¶ What do you conspire against the
LORD? He will make an
utter end of it. Affliction will not rise up a second time. 10 For while tangled like thorns, And while drunken like drunkards, They will be devoured like stubble fully dry.
11 Out of you comes One who plots evil against the
LORD, A wicked counsellor. 12 Thus says the LORD: “Though they are quiet and likewise
many, Yet they will be cut down when he
will pass through. Though I have
afflicted you, I shall afflict you no more; 13 For now I shall break off his yoke from
you, And burst your bonds apart.” 14 And the LORD has given a command
concerning you, “Your name will be
perpetuated no more. Out of the
house of your gods, I shall cut off The
carved image and the moulded image.
I shall make your grave, for you are vile.” 15 (2:1) Behold, upon the mountains The feet of him who brings good
news, Who proclaims peace! Oh Judah, keep your feasts, Perform your vows. For no more
Will the wicked man pass through you; He is utterly cut off.”
I have been studying the book of Nahum
since the 3rd of December and now I am at the beginning of this
third section which will conclude the first chapter of Nahum. Before Nahum I studied the book of Jonah
which was between 100-150 years before Nahum.
We learned that there was a great revival in Nineveh after Jonah went
there to preach, and from what I was able to learn most of the young of Nineveh
were the part of this great revival, the largest in the Old Testament, and possibly
even in the New Testament.
We are now looking at the last
verses in this first chapter of Nahum and we see that there is great trouble
lurking for Nineveh because they had turned away from the Lord and now Nahum writes
of what will happen to them.
Now I have been mostly quoting from
John MacArthur’s commentary in these Spiritual Diaries on Nahum and then
commenting some on my own, and also I am quoting many of the verses that he
brings up and I see in this introduction to Nahum that MacArthur references 21 chapters
from the book of Psalms which I will quote, but not quote all of the verses in
those Psalms as that would take too much time and so it will be best I quote
them, and then allow those who want to look them up to do so.
“The theme of Nahum’s prophecy is
judgment. Yet, the meaning of his name
is ‘comfort.’ These details may initially
seem incompatible. However, in the book
of Nahum, comfort and judgment are not in opposition. Rather, they complement one another in
keeping with the prophets purpose. Nahum
sought to comfort God’s people after the northern kingdom of Israel had been
violently conquered and exiled by the Assyrians. By declaring that the Lord would not allow
such brutality to go unpunished (cf. Deut. 6:15; 2 Peter 3:7).”
(cf. Deut. 6:15; 2 Peter 3:7)
“15 (for the LORD your God is a
jealous God among you) lest the anger of the LORD your God be
aroused against you and destroy you from off the face of the earth.”
“7 But the heavens and the earth, which
now are kept by the same word, are reserved for fire until the
day of judgment and perdition of ungodly men.”
“Nahum’s prophecy
offered hope to God’s people by assuring them that Yahweh would bring the
wicked to justice.” Now as I think about
justice and judgment which I believe are a part of God’s attributes it makes me
think of how Great and awesome God is.
It is very hard for me to understand how God’s attributes work in
different situations like for instance love and judgment, or love and
justice. I realize that as a human being
I cannot truly understand all there is to know about God, but as Deuteronomy 29:29
says “29 (29:28) The secret things
belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are
revealed belong to us and to our children for ever, to do all the
words of this law.” May I just say something about this verse: “God knows everything, and yet God has not
told, nor does He need to tell His children everything that He knows, however
as His children we are to follow all of the things that He has let us know
about.” I know that because all have
sinned and fallen short of the glory of God that this is pretty much impossible
to do, and that is where the grace of God comes in. Grace is the very best thing that God has
given to us and it came through His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ, for Jesus Christ
left His home in heaven to be born a man on planet earth in order to teach and
to preach and also to die in my place and in everyone who will call on
Him. Grace to me means that Christ did
not have to do what He did, but because of His grace to us He did this and all
a person has to do is to realize that he or she is a sinner, a sinner who on
their own cannot do anything to earn salvation, and so to trust in what Jesus
Christ did for you on the cross where he took your sin upon Himself, while
separated from His Father who was pouring my wrath and your wrath on the
sinless Son of God so that God can then save us through the shed blood of the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now if you have never
done this, then pray to the Lord and tell Him that you are a sinner and in need
of His salvation through Jesus Christ.
Confess your sin to the Lord and then tell the Lord that you desire to
have Jesus Christ to come into your life to save you and if you are sincere and
if you believe this He will certainly forgive you.
Looks like we will have to continue
looking at this introduction to Nahum 1:9-15 in tomorrow’s Spiritual Diary.
Spiritual
Meaning for my Life Today: As Deuteronomy 29:29 tells me I don’t
have to know all about God, but what He has told me in His Word, I must follow.
My
Steps of Faith for Today: Continue to trust the Lord with what is going
on with my wife’s cancer, trusting Him for what He is doing.
12/29/2025
11:24 AM
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