The Lord is good

The prophet Nahum prophesied against Nineveh and he started his prophecy with the following verses. “God is jealous, and the LORD avenges; The LORD avenges and is furious. The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries, And He reserves wrath for His enemies;” {Nah 1:2}.

The LORD will take vengeance on His adversaries but He loves His children with an amazing love, for He said “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with loving kindness I have drawn you.” {Jer31:3}.

God’s love for us exceeds anyone’s imaginations. He made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant {Ph 2:7}, He did that for you and me.

Nahum continues his prophecy over God’s people by saying “The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him” {Nah 1:7}. How great is God’s love towards us.

We will study this verse “The LORD is good, A stronghold in the day of trouble; And He knows those who trust in Him” in three parts.

 Part 1: The Lord is good

 No one will ever fathom the fullness of Lord’s goodness from the beginning to the end. From the first day of  the creation to the day of our last day on earth.

Beloved ones, God’s goodness is the awesome power that draws us to Him over the years until the end of our days. He is the loving God who surrounds us with his love. He always cares for us with His kindness and tender love, which surpasses all understanding.

Some of us may go through a turbulence time and think that God Has forsaken or punishing him or her. If you feel this way rest assured that God never leaves nor forsakes His children. If you are a child of God He will not leave you nor forsake you. He watches over you day and night. He loves you. God never leaves nor forsakes His children. God is a faithful God “If we are unfaithful, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.” {2Ti 2:13}.

You may feel that you are not a child of God, then come to him now and become a child of His.

In so many places God says in the Bible return to me and I will return to you. He wants you to come back to Him. He is the good God. The goodness of God will never decrease over the years no matter what the circumstances are.

The goodness of God is the greatest expression and evidence of His love for us.

Some might think that they have provoked God’s wrath many times over.

Beloved ones; just come to God with a repented heart. Repent of your sins sincerely and you will find Him waiting to embrace you in His everlasting bosom. He will embrace you with His everlasting love, kindness and joy. He will receive you as the father of prodigal son who received him after he spent his money on the harlots. Read this story in the gospel of Luke chapter 15. Read what the father did when he saw his son coming back. “But when he came to himself, he said, `How many of my father's hired servants have bread enough and to spare, and I perish with hunger! I will arise and go to my father, and will say to him, father, I have sinned against heaven and before you, and I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Make me like one of your hired servants. And he arose and came to his father. But when he was still a great way off, his father saw him and had compassion, and ran and fell on his neck and kissed him. But the father said to his servants, bring out the best robe and put it on him, and put a ring on his hand and sandals on his feet. And bring the fatted calf here and kill it, and let us eat and be merry; For this my son was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.' And they began to be merry.” {Lu15: 17-24}

This story is a parable about the love of our heavenly father for us.

The father was waiting for the son to come back, that is why he saw him when he was  far away and ran and kissed him.

All what the heavenly father wants from us is to offer a true repentance, repentance from the heart and not just a lip service. When you repent He will surly forgive you. He will cast away your sins as far as the east form the west. This is what the word of God says in psalm 103. This is the goodness of God. God will never force you to repent. He will corner you in many ways so you may wake up from the destructive effect of sin in your life and repent, but he will not force you to repent. A good advice is to read the Bible daily and that will make you understand what is right from wrong.

Many will say if God wants me to repent he will draw me to him. Beloved ones, He desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth {2Ti 2:4}.

God wants you to come to His bosom now for He knows the torment of sin. He took our flesh and was tempted in everyway like us “For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” {Heb 4: 15-16}.

God knows your pains because He was tempted as you are but without sin. Satan will tempt you as he tempted our Lord Jesus.

 Part 2: A stronghold in the day of trouble

 The Bible describes our good God with many words so we may have a glimpse of the greatness of our God with our limited understanding. Some of these descriptions are rock, fortress, stronghold and power. God uses these words to give us a simple idea about his greatness.

I heard the pastor of the biggest church in Korea and he had a missionary in his church. He went to evangelize a small town, where the majority worshiped Buda. When he arrived to the town he asked some locals about a certain address. From his conversation with the local they understood that he was a Christian missionary, they mislead him so he may not preach Christianity. Instead of giving him the right direction they send him to the wrong way. He ended up in a mountain covered with snow. It was very late at night and he could not return back. It was below zero and he knew that by the morning he would freeze to death. He prayed to the Lord and said: I trust that you take care of your children Lord. If it is your will that I die let your will be done. After prayer he slept. In the morning when he waked up he found a huge bear hugging him to protect him from the extreme cold. The bear did not harm him.

The amazing thing is when that boar  realized that the missionary is awake, she went backward away from him so he will not be scared.

Our good God send this vicious and cruel bear to protect him from the harshness of snow.

God is a stronghold in the day of trouble.

 Part 3: And He knows those who trust in Him

 Beloved ones, God searches the heart. He knows all our thoughts. He knows if you trust in Him or not.

You will not be able to deceive God. You cannot say I trust in Him and you are not. He wants you to come to Him in honesty with all your sins, pains and your sorrows and tell Him: I want to surrender every part in my life to You Lord.

I want to give You all in all.

Lord I want You to take charge over my life.

Often we find it hard to trust in God.  Come and tell Him help me my good God to trust in You. Come to him with all your weakness.

Beloved ones; God did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance {Mat9: 13} these are the Lord’s words.

If you think that you can improve yourself without the help and the support of the divine grace, you are deceiving yourself. If that is the case then the Lord’s coming and crucifixion was in vain.

Come now and put your trust in the Lord in every aspect of your life. He loves you and He will never fail you. Ask Him to help your unbelief.

Tell Him You are the only person who knows the depth of my pain, who knows the depth of my wounds. Tell Him You are my Healer. He is the greatest physician the world ever knew and will know. I have met so many people, who sought medicine for treatment, but medicine failed them and in the end they went to the greatest physician and they were healed totally. I do not cancel the importance of medicine because God is the one who gave the knowledge to scientist.

I pray we surrender every thing to the Lord.      

I pray we come to God and put our trust in Him first.

Trusting in the Lord simply means that we trust that He can carry our burden and He can solve our problems in a divine way.