TITLE: THE LORD IS GOOD
SCRIPTURE: NAHUM 1:7
I lift as a thought this morning the powerful first four words found in this Verse – THE LORD IS GOOD. I must admit, this book is a difficult book to read and certainly challenging to preach from. NAHUM is labeled as one of the “minor prophets.” This does not mean their message is any less important than the messages of the prophets referred to as the “major prophets.” That label simply means their message is shorter in length, the minor prophets had less to say compared to what God had commissioned the Major Prophets to proclaim.
The book bears the name of the Prophet Nahum.
• His name means “Comfort” or “Consolation”
• It is a shortened form of the name Nehemiah
• The city of Capernaum is named after Nahum
• The Jews call the city “Kepher-Nahum,” or “The City of Nahum”
The name Nahum, or “comfort,” is a strange name for this book, because the book of Nahum is a book of judgment. It is a book of harsh pronouncements of doom against a people who had abandoned the ways of God. This book is a sequel to the BOOK OF JONAH. About 100 years earlier, Jonah was sent to the CITY OF NINEVEH, which was the CAPITAL CITY OF THE NATION OF ASSYRIA.
• Jonah entered their city preaching a message of certain, impending judgment
• When the Ninevites heard the message of Jonah, they repented of their sins and the Lord spared the city
• Now, a century has passed and they have turned away from the commitment they made to the Lord
We can relate to this for every now and then we have attempted to bargain with God.
• Lord, if you take me through this Surgery – I will go to Church more often
• Lord, if you help me graduate College – I will go to Sunday School
• Lord, if this medical test comes out good – I will tithe like I should
• Lord, if you touch the judge tomorrow – I will serve you more diligently
• Lord, answered our cry and we make the change for a few months
• After a few months we have returned to the former state and forget all about what God has done for us
Nahum’s message was, Nineveh will be destroyed! In three chapters, almost every verse speaks of the destruction of the great Assyrian city that took place in 612 B.C. More than 100 years earlier Jonah had prophesied God’s message of coming judgment to the people of Ninevah. The king and all the people of the city repented and it’s estimated more than 600,000 people turned to the God of Israel. Sadly these people did not pass down the knowledge of the Lord to their children and the people quickly reverted to their cruel and heathen practices.
• In 722 they had destroyed the Northern Kingdom, Israel
• And attempted to capture Jerusalem in 701
So we can relate to the Ninevites, after hearing the Word of God they repented and God did not destroy them. They began to worship the Lord and do all the things God had required of them. But as time went on, they too forgot about the Goodness of God.
• HEBREWS 10:25 – “NOT FORSAKING THE ASSEMBLING OF OURSELVES TOGETHER, AS THE MANNER OF SOME IS, BUT EXHORTING ONE ANOTHER: AND SO MUCH THE MORE AS YE SEE THE DAY APPROACHING”
• It is by assembling together with our families, children that we are reminded of the Mercies of God
• It is through our Testimonies that we draw strength from each other
• When this is neglected our families, society begins to fall apart just like Nahum’s day and age
Can I tell you this morning - The things of God are so deep - so involved - so complex that we forget those simple things that drew us to Him. More of the saints should spend meditation time on God’s goodness. Just allowing it to roll over our thoughts, just dwelling on His goodness. It should be easy because…well…it’s everywhere!
• I believe if we let our thoughts settle on the goodness of God, we will find ourselves with more fine-tuned thought patterns
• We will find ourselves with more holier ideas
• We will find ourselves with more cleaner thinking
• And it will draw us that much closer to Christ!
By the time the book of Nahum was written, the Assyrian Empire was at the height of its Military and National power. They were on the march, seeking to expand the boundaries of their kingdom. Beyond that, the ASSYRIANS WERE GUILTY OF ATTACKING THE NATION OF ISRAEL.
• God used them to punish Israel for their sins
• But God would also punish Assyria for their disobedience and their hatred of the people of God
So on the one hand, the book of Nahum is actually –
• A Book of discomfort to the Assyrians who were persecuting the people of God
• But on the other hand it is actually a book of comfort for the nation of Judah who are being oppressed by the Assyrian people through their kings
My question this morning would be –
• If things were so bad during Nahum’s day
• If God was in the midst of punishing Assyria
• If God was also in the midst of punishing his people
• If disobedience to God was on the rise
• God gives Nahum a message of doom to Prophesy
• How does Nahum make this proclamation found in our Scripture for examination?
With all this unrest, what did Nahum see that caused him to make such a bold declaration that – THE LORD IS GOOD?
• God called this nation out from the rest of the world to be a blessing to the rest of the world
• Yet even this chosen nation, called to be a kingdom of priests mediating God’s grace globally needed grace themselves
• They were themselves corrupt
• As a result, God sent various godless nations to punish His people
• Seven hundred years before Christ He sent the Assyrians
Even during this tragedy because of turning away from God, Nahum was still able to see and understand the GRACE OF GOD.
• Grace is the Love of God shown to the unlovely
• Grace is the Peace of God given to the restless
• Grace is the Unmerited Favor of God
• Grace is free sovereign favor to the ill-deserving
• Grace is love that Cares and Stoops and Rescues
• Grace is God reaching downward to people who are in rebellion against Him
• Grace is unconditional love toward a person who does not deserve it
Grace is most needed and best understood in the midst of Sin - Suffering - Brokenness. We live in a world of Earning – Deserving - Merit, and these result in judgment.
• That is why everyone wants and needs Grace
• Judgment kills
• Only Grace makes alive
We have the tendency to fall apart during difficulties in our lives and not able to see beyond them as Nahum was able to see far beyond what his eyes and emotions were able to see. He had a deeper appreciation of God’s Grace. We struggle in this area because part of how we view god’s grace is often birthed out of our experience with each other.
• Whether it’s a PARENT – RELATIVE - OR OUR GENERAL VIEW OF MANKIND, our experience with sinful and broken people affect our view of our Holy and Righteous God
• We’re unacquainted with GRACE – MERCY - TRUTH that’s untainted by sin
• We have the tendency to look at Grace through our eyes instead of through the eyes of God
• Humanly speaking, though we’ve experienced Grace, we’ve never met a person that embodied Grace perfectly outside of Christ
When we speak of God's Grace, we mean all the good gifts we enjoy freely in life. There is another way of speaking about grace that is more about redemption than about creation. This is what Nahum was able to tap into to declare such a proclamation in the midst of such Calamity. If we don’t get this, if we don’t understand this process we will continue to fall apart every time a severe storm touches our lives as believers.
Whereas God pronounced original grace, the other side of the story is when we head off on our own, ignoring the Giver. This headstrong straying we have called original sin, meaning our freedom to choose the not so good, to turn aside from original grace.
• Ironically, this freedom is itself the most unique grace given humankind by God
• The capacity to choose our own way, which must necessarily entail the possibility of choosing poorly
• PSALM 100:3 “KNOW YE THAT THE LORD HE IS GOD: IT IS HE THAT HATH MADE US, AND NOT WE OURSELVES…”
• JEREMIAH 1:5 “BEFORE I FORMED THEE IN THE BELLY I KNEW THEE….”
• Yet, God has still allowed us “Free Will”
• Because we have not always chosen the most graceful path, we have ended up in some miserable, blind alleys along the way
o Anybody ever mess up along this journey of life?
o Anybody ever make some bad decisions that took some time to fix?
o Anybody ever lean on your own understanding instead of the Lord and found yourself in bad shape?
• When we grasp our predicament and call for the help we had previously spurned, Amazing Grace comes to the rescue
Nahum learned how to lean and depend on this amazing grace.
• Most of us today don’t trust God enough - to lean and depend on His Grace
• Most of us have not yet developed that type of relationship with the Lord – to lean and depend on His Grace
• Most of us would turn on God because we have never learned – to lean and depend on His Grace
• Most of us will find fault in God because we have never learned – to lean and depend on His Grace
Nahum found no fault in God because He understood the Grace of God. Therefore, in the midst of all this mess he was experiencing in the nation he was still able to proclaim THE LORD IS GOOD! I want you to know this morning that I so agree with the Prophet Nahum - OUR GOD IS SO GOOD! And you know what’s great about Him?
• God doesn’t stop being God just because we stop being good
• He’s always good
• You know what we like to say -- “God is Good, all the time. And all the time, God is good”
Churches chant this every Sunday morning for their service, and walk out the doors and some shun the world for not having fellowshipped with them.
• But God is good to the Churched, and the Unchurched among us
• He is good to the Beggar - and He is good to the Billionaire
• He is good to the Sinner - and He is good to the Saint
• ST. MATTHEW 5:45 - He maketh his Sun to rise on the Evil - and on the Good
• He sendeth Rain on the Just – and on the Unjust
This should encourage us today, because our nation, like the ancient Assyrians, has wandered far away from God. The Assyrians were the vilest, meanest people of that era. But, they were no more vile and evil then the people of America are today.
• We have reviled God’s law
• We have ignored God’s word
• We have found countless ways to cut God out of our lives
• As a result, America is a nation under judgment today
The turmoil in our society –
• Closure of our Government for almost a month now
• 800,000 Government workers and countless Government Contractors will go without their second paycheck of this new year
• Our President behaving like a Child
• The upheaval in our economy
• The steady decline in our morality, can all be traced to our abandonment of God, and to His subsequent abandonment of us
But, just like Nahum in our text, even in the midst of judgment -- “THE LORD IS GOOD!”
• The word “GOOD” means, “PLEASANT – AGREEABLE – RICH - VALUABLE”
• That word describes the very character of God
• In fact, our English word God is a shortened form of the word Good
• Circumstances may say otherwise, but “The Lord is good!”
Regardless of the realm of life –
• Finances
• Government
• People
• Pain
• Problems
• Sickness
• Even Death
• God is Good!
We are living in Difficult times where it seems like racism is back on the rise – mass shootings in our Schools – Churches – Concerts. But can I tell you that still, THE LORD IS GOOD.
• He is good to all people
o In all Places
o In all Situations
o And at all times
o In spite of how things LOOK – FEEL – APPEAR
o God is Good!
That is the assurance we have in all –
• Situations
• Circumstances
• Conditions of life
• God is Good!
I know my brothers and sisters, it’s easy for us to say, “The Lord is good” when life is going well, but it doesn’t change the fact that, “The Lord is good” even when times are bad. The Lord is good all the time, and in every way.
I just want to remind you as I close on this Third Sunday of this New Year - “THE LORD IS GOOD!”
• This might be a good time to come before Him and praise Him for His goodness
• This might be a good time to come home if you have wandered away
• This might be a good time to get before the Lord and ask Him to forgive you for doubting His goodness in your life
--One day a little boy was telling his grandmother how “everything” in his life was going wrong
--He told her about his problems with SCHOOL, FAMILY, FRIENDS, and everything else in his life
--Meanwhile, his grandmother is baking a cake
--She asks her grandson if he would like a snack, to make him feel better, which of course he does
--“Here, have some cooking oil,” grandma offers
--“Yuck” says the boy
--“How about a couple raw eggs?" Grandma asks him
--“That’s gross, Grandma!” he says
--“Would you like some flour then?
--Or maybe baking soda?”
--“Grandma, those things are all yucky!” the boy says.
--To which Grandma replies: “Yes, all these things seem bad by themselves
--But when they are put together in the right way, they make a wonderfully delicious cake!
--God works the same way
--Many times we wonder why He would let us go through such bad and difficult times
--But as we trust in Him despite the circumstances, Eventually, together all things will make something wonderful!”
--ROMANS 8:28 “AND WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD TO THEM THAT LOVE GOD, TO THEM WHO ARE THE CALLED ACCORDING TO HIS PURPOSE”
I don’t know what you are experiencing today, but I want to leave you with a final thought -- THE LORD IS GOOD!”
