Cringing and flinching through Nahum

For those of you who don't know, Nahum is a book in the Old Testament in the Bible. You can find it sandwiched between Micah and Habakkuk. If you're still lost...go to the beginning of the New Testament and flip backwards through Malachi, Zechariah, Haggai, Zephaniah, and Habakkuk. The next book his Nahum. In my Bible it starts on page 1007 (which might help some of you guys who still have the Precious Moment's Bible your parents got you in the late 80's or early 90's.

Anyway, Nahum is one of those books that you really only want to read when you feel like having your toes stepped on. Or if you feel like having someone riverdance on your toes for 47 verses. Nahum is not for the faint of heart or the weak-minded. It is filled with the power, might, and mind-blowing wrath of God. This passage alone is daunting: "He rebukes the sea and makes it dry, and dries up all the rivers. Bashan and Carmel wither, and the flower of Lebanon wilts. The mountains quake before Him, the hills melt, and the earth heaves at His presence, yes, the world and all who dwell in it." 1:4-5 I mean...the POWER of that. The MIGHT of our God...that His presence would cause the whole earth to heave and melt the hills. And I read through forty more verses filled with with the same crazy-awesome-powerful-amazing things, and I cringe and I flinch, and think to myself, "God, please don't ever let me be on the receiving end of Your wrath."

I read 3:5-6, "'Behold, I am against you,' says the Lord of hosts; "I will lift your skirts over your face; I will show the nations your nakedness, and the kingdoms your shame. I will cast abominable filth upon you, make you vile, and make you a spectacle." And I feel as though I've been punched in the gut and I fear the punishment of the Lord...of a God who could do that to His enemies.

I read the last two verses of the book 3:18-19, "Your shepherds slumber, O king of Assyria; your nobles rest in the dust, your people are scattered on the mountains, and no one gathers them. Your injury has no healing, your wound is severe, all who hear news of you will clap their hands over you, for upon whom has not your wickedness passed continually." And I see how God's enemy receives his mortal wound, and how the whole world will erupt in applause and the complete desolation of the wicked, and I realize...

I am not God's enemy. He is on my side. He may have stored up his wrath for His enemies. That is well and good because I AM NOT an enemy of God. I have nothing to fear because I am His and He is mine. And I rejoice because I know in my heart of hearts - in the deepest part of my soul that I will never have to face His wrath. I will never have to worry about His anger and His wrath and His vengeance because I have been saved and adopted into His family. And He has covered me with His love.

But my heart breaks for those who will never come to this realization, who will never accept the love and salvation of the Lord. Because it is those who shall surely suffer his wrath and anger and vengeance. And, oh, what a terrible day that is.