Everyone Loves Wrath!
Passage:
Nahum 1
The wrath of God gets a bad rap. So it may surprise you that you actually love it more than you think. Let us prove it to you on today’s episode where we explore a passage that has never ever made it onto the side of a coffee mug…Nahum 1.
This passage describes God in such an amazing and unique way! Short story: Read it!
Questions J&K are asking:
What does it mean that God is slow to anger? It doesn’t mean that God never gets angry. But that when He’s angry, it’s been brewing for a while.
Nahum was written about 100 years after the book of Jonah. What happened in those 100 years? Probably nothing good if God’s anger has been brewing!
How do we handle a passage about God’s anger and wrath towards a specific group of people? What can we learn about God from these passages?
Thinking it through:
The first two verses sound so angry! 😡
The Lord is a zealous and avenging God;
the Lord is avenging and very angry.
The Lord takes vengeance against his foes;
he sustains his rage against his enemies.
But then verse 3 seems so out of place!
The Lord is slow to anger but great in power;
the Lord will certainly not allow the wicked to go unpunished.
God’s wrath means God cares. And that is a GOOD THING! He will do something about the wrong that happens in this world.
Isaiah 61:8 makes it clear that God loves justice. He hates being robbed of his proper worship (sound familiar? Maybe check out last week’s episode too!).
When God loves something, He hates anything that causes it harm! So for God to be wrathful or angry at something means that God must love something else more!
Application questions:
Take some time to find more Bible verses showing God’s desire for justice. Write them out and post them where you will see them.
In suffering, how do you remind yourself that God hasn’t left you but is actually very close?
We are saved from God to God through God! What a thought! How can this be true? Rewrite this in your own words.
How do you “take refuge” (Nahum 1:7) in God?
Dedicate some time to memorizing Nahum 1:3a, “The Lord is slow to anger and great in power, And the Lord will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.” Bonus level: Memorize verse 7 too!
We couldn’t answer every question about this passage but we certainly hope that we helped! Want to ask more questions? Email question@clearlypodcast.com.
Additional resources:
Our sponsor: BetterMan.com
Good and Angry by David Powlison
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