JMD Devotional 188 Nahum 1:1-3 Depth of God
THE BURDEN or oracle (the thing to be lifted up) concerning Nineveh [the capital of Assyria]. The book of the vision of Nahum of Elkosh. The Lord is a jealous God and avenging; the Lord avenges and He is full of wrath. The Lord takes vengeance on His adversaries and reserves wrath for His enemies. The Lord is slow to anger and great in power and will by no means clear the guilty. The Lord has His way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of His feet.
Vs 6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can stand up and endure the fierceness of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him.
Vs 7 The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him.
One reason cartoons are popular is that they are easy to understand: two-dimensional characters, obvious plots, predictable outcomes (i.e. the Coyote always fails). In real life, we tend to think we have figured out certain people; that may be true for some extremely shallow ones; but it really does not do justice for someone made in God's image. If we are complex and multi-layered than how can the God who made EVERYTHING be cast into perspective with a few words? Reading the Prophets of the Old Testament paints God one pixel at a time. In a given context God is angry, jealous, offended, powerful, wrathful, avenging... but in another context He is merciful, loving, forgiving, healing and gracious. We have a problem with our perception of divinity if we park on just one aspect of His character ignoring the whole counsel of the scriptures. The whole of it will never fit in our brains; but we can catch the vision of His wonder and majesty.
Dear God,
Forgive me for not giving You very much credit sometimes. For so long, my view of You was limited by (my much loved and honored) emotionally-aloof earthly dad. Wrath I understood only too well; but it took a lot of work to look deeper to find more in both of you. Your love comes in unexpected packaging; what looks like drudgery from a distance is in reality fulfilling work on my character; there are many such gifts I have always resisted. Thank You for being patient with me; and taking the time to manifest Yourself to me in ways I can understand. The more I grasp the more I want to know You and be in Your presence. You are worthy of all praise.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
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Vs 6 Who can stand before His indignation? And who can stand up and endure the fierceness of His anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken asunder by Him.
Vs 7 The Lord is good, a Strength and Stronghold in the day of trouble; He knows (recognizes, has knowledge of, and understands) those who take refuge and trust in Him.
One reason cartoons are popular is that they are easy to understand: two-dimensional characters, obvious plots, predictable outcomes (i.e. the Coyote always fails). In real life, we tend to think we have figured out certain people; that may be true for some extremely shallow ones; but it really does not do justice for someone made in God's image. If we are complex and multi-layered than how can the God who made EVERYTHING be cast into perspective with a few words? Reading the Prophets of the Old Testament paints God one pixel at a time. In a given context God is angry, jealous, offended, powerful, wrathful, avenging... but in another context He is merciful, loving, forgiving, healing and gracious. We have a problem with our perception of divinity if we park on just one aspect of His character ignoring the whole counsel of the scriptures. The whole of it will never fit in our brains; but we can catch the vision of His wonder and majesty.
Dear God,
Forgive me for not giving You very much credit sometimes. For so long, my view of You was limited by (my much loved and honored) emotionally-aloof earthly dad. Wrath I understood only too well; but it took a lot of work to look deeper to find more in both of you. Your love comes in unexpected packaging; what looks like drudgery from a distance is in reality fulfilling work on my character; there are many such gifts I have always resisted. Thank You for being patient with me; and taking the time to manifest Yourself to me in ways I can understand. The more I grasp the more I want to know You and be in Your presence. You are worthy of all praise.
Amen
All (but*) quotes are from The Amplified Bible, published by
the Lockman Foundation. (AMP)
Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation
*New International Version (NIV)
Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984 by International Bible Society
**Scripture taken from The Message. Copyright © 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, 2000, 2001, 2002. Used by permission of NavPress Publishing Group. (Eugene Peterson's easy-to-read, contemporary Scripture translation)
If you know of someone who would like to subscribe to
my daily devotional, please forward.
jamesdinsmore_32907@yahoo.com
Short, concise, thought-provoking.
More features:
http://SaintJamesPoetry.blogspot.com
http://recoverydevotional.blogspot.com/
http://jamesezadventures.blogspot.com/
posted by James M. Dinsmore at 8:36 PM
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