Nahum 1:7 The Lord is good, a refuge in times of trouble. He cares for those who trust in him,    

    You may have seen movies or TV shows where a person is desperate to have the love of another. They do all sorts of things to win the affection of their crush, but nothing helps. The person is just not interested. They then turn to more desperate measures. This is where we would say, “things turn dark.” They are so determined to get that person to love them, they are willing to force them to. Of course, we know that is never going to work out. And, in the process, the one doing the chasing looks more and more like a crazy person!

    Nahum, one of the minor prophets, starts his short writing like most of the others. Lots of bad news about what is coming for those to whom he is writing. All that doom and destruc-tion is not very appealing to say the least. But then he includes today’s verse. The Lord is good. God is a good God. His goodness is displayed a million ways every day. His goodness, along with His holiness, though is one reason why He doesn’t tolerate evil. It goes against everything He is. 

    He is a refuge in times of trouble. That’s certainly good news! We all have trouble. God can be our refuge. To know we have a refuge is a great comfort. To know that God cares for everyone is…but that’s not what Nahum said, is it? He wrote that God cares for those who trust in Him. Language working as it does, that means that His care is not for those who do not trust in Him. That kind of talk causes many to react and recoil. It causes people to accuse God, or those who follow Him, of a lack of love. “God loves everyone!!” Sure. But if we want to enjoy His love, if we want to experience His care, we have to trust in Him. 

    Many fail to understand this basic principle. They must think that God is like that crazy girlfriend or crazy boyfriend, so desperate for the love of His people that He’ll do anything to get it. That He will force Himself on them. But is that what we want? If God were forcing Him-self on people could He be considered good? God is good and He is loving. He is never going to force Himself on people. If we trust in Him, He will care for us. 

    The whole point of the prophecies at the end of the Old Testament were messages for people who didn’t put their trust in Him. They put their trust in idols. They had all sorts of idols, things they had put before God, and they were suffering for it. Not primarily because He was punishing them angrily, but because by putting those things before God, they lost out on His care and relationship. Now I don’t know anyone personally who worships Baal or Molech or Ashtoreth. But we have no shortage of idols even today. Our idols are things like money or power or sex or just ourself. Whatever is more important to us than God is an idol. 

    God won’t share our affection. He won’t insist on our love. But if we will turn our hearts to Him we will find a most loving God! More so than we ever dreamed! He will be our refuge in time of trouble!

    

Blessings,   

 

Pastor Russ