Warning: Our Choices Reveal and Receive

Scripture Text: Nahum 1:1

A pronouncement about Nineveh: The record of the vision of Nahum from Elkosh.

Nahum 1:1, ESV

Marian Anderson was a renowned African American contralto. Looking for a concert venue in Washington, D.C., her agent discovered that Constitution Hall, owned by the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR), was available only to white artists. First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt, who was on the DAR board, resigned in protest and helped arrange for the concert to be held instead on the grounds of the Lincoln Memorial. On Easter Sunday, 1939, a record audience gathered there, with millions more listening on the radio. Anderson opened by singing, “My country ‘tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing.” Later she would sing at the inaugurations of Presidents Eisenhower and Kennedy, among many other achievements and awards.

Anderson thought of herself as a musician, not a civil rights hero, but her story of achievement required perseverance, courage, and justice. The book of Nahum is also about courage and justice. It was risky for Nahum to prophesy judgment on Nineveh, because Assyria was a powerful empire known for its cruel treatment of defeated nations and leaders. This message of justice included God’s condemnation of Nineveh’s sin. More than a century after Jonah’s time, Nineveh was completely destroyed in 612 B.C. as an act of divine judgment.

As a prophet, Nahum is among those who constitute the foundation of our faith. He ministered during the reign of Josiah, likely overlapping with a young Jeremiah. His name means “comfort” or “consolation” and his message of judgment on Assyria, which had conquered the northern kingdom of Israel in 722 B.C., would certainly have been a word of comfort or consolation for Judah. Nothing is known about his hometown of Elkosh. The book of Nahum is not a narrative like Jonah, but rather resembles other prophetic books in that it is an “oracle” or a “vision,” meaning a prophetic message or sermon. Most oracles contain a message of blessing to balance the one of judgment, but that is not the case here.

Each generation must take responsibility for its own moral and spiritual choices. In Jonah’s day, the people of Nineveh responded with repentant hearts to the word of the Lord. But the Ninevites of Nahum’s day made different choices and stood guilty before God. Their city would be permanently destroyed as a result of their wickedness. While past church leaders and revivals are a heritage from God, they cannot replace our responsibility to be faithful.

Reflect

1. How is our spiritual and moral choices?

2. Do they reflect our faithfulness and undivided devotion to our Lord, our God?

Remember

God’s love cannot ignore or overlook sin. We should rejoice in divine justice and judgment because it represents the triumph of holiness.

Read

Jonah 3:1-10; Ezekiel 18:20-24; Ephesians 2:19-20

Pray

Dear LORD, reveal to me any choice that I make that manifests my unfaithfulness to You and I humbly ask for Your forgiveness. I pray that You create in me a heart that is so devoted to You, recognizes Your voice and acquainted to Your will and ways. This I pray in the name of my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen.