The Old Testament book of Nahum is an unlikely place for devotional reading.
It consists primarily of warnings towards and judgments against the city of Nineveh, a locale we know mostly through the OT book of Jonah.
And let’s face it: Jonah is on the Hebrew best seller list while Nahum barely makes a blip on Amazon.com
Nevertheless, there are two consecutive verses tucked away in Nahum’s first chapter that defy our preaching extremes of relentless judgmentalism on the one hand and permissive universalism on the other. It’s Nahum 1:6-7:
Who can withstand [God’s] indignation?
Who can endure his fierce anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire;
the rocks are shattered before him.
The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him.
Both judgment and salvation. Wrath and love. Held in balance and constant tension in a way that foreshadows Paul’s masterful line Romans 11:22: behold the kindness and severity of God.
Indeed.