An Awesome God!

"The Lord is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knows those who take refuge in Him." Nahum the prophet wrote these words about 650 to 612 B.C., years before Christ came onto the scene. Does anyone know that this prophecy was of the second fall and destruction of Nineveh? The conversion of the Ninevites in response to the preaching of Jonah was evidently short lived because they soon became ruthless, returning to their former wicked ways. Enter Nahum with his prediction of "doom and gloom" for Nineveh, once again.

I think that is significant because before he reaches the 8th verse of his first chapter he is declaring that "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble." He's declaring to a people that his God was preparing to destroy their land once again, and with the compassion of a true believer, he takes a moment to let them know that the Lord is good. And he also declared that "He knows those who take refuge in Him." In the 37th Psalm he says that "...He is their strength in time of trouble." and Jesus says in John 10:14,15 "I am the good shepherd; and I know My own, and My own know Me, even as the Father knows me and I know the Father, and I lay down My life for the sheep." God knows who it is that needs to take refuge in Him.

Here's the point and it is very simple. You may be living life today to the extent that your head is going under water and you are holding up two fingers. Already went down once, now your on your way down for the second time, all the time, hoping that someone on the shore sees that you need help. Nahum reminded the Ninevites as they were getting ready to go down for the second time, that "The Lord is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble."

Times are becoming very difficult for everyone. People are losing the livelihoods, their savings, their homes, everything they have worked a lifetime for and an obscure minor prophet, tucked away at the back end of the old testament wants you to know that even though things could not possibly look more bleak; he says, here's a life preserver, here's a lifeboat, here is an anchor to hold you steady.

Finally, in Psalm 37:40 the psalmist writes ..."The Lord helps them, and delivers them; He delivers them from the wicked, and saves them, Because they take refuge in Him." Perhaps you are at a place where it is time to take refuge. Wouldn't it be great to allow the One who created you, to reach down and deliver you?

Along with the 4 Spiritual Laws that I promote on my website (www.nowwhut.org) Romans 10: 9&10 says ..."If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved; for with the heart man believes, resulting in righteousness and with the mouth he confesses resulting in salvation." Praise the Lord that He is indeed, "Good" and "Strong" for our sakes.

Dave