Nahum 1:12 (ESV)

[12] Thus says the LORD,

“Though they are at full strength and many,

they will be cut down and pass away.

Though I have afflicted you,

I will afflict you no more.

[13] And now I will break his yoke from off you

and will burst your bonds apart.”

[14] The LORD has given commandment about you:

“No more shall your name be perpetuated;

from the house of your gods I will cut off

the carved image and the metal image.

I will make your grave, for you are vile.”

[15] Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him

who brings good news,

who publishes peace!

Keep your feasts, O Judah;

fulfill your vows,

for never again shall the worthless pass through you;

he is utterly cut off.

Nahum is written for Judah, but it is written against Ninevah. Ninevah, the Assyrian capital, was given a reprieve 150 years earlier when Jonah preached there and they repented, but it didn’t last. The Assyrians were know for their cruelty. They were an idolatrous, aggressive, and particularly cruel people. Amos 4:2 makes mention of people being led away into captivity by fishhooks. Assyria was known for putting hooks through the jaw of those they captured and forcing them to walk back to Assyria as captives. They were a cruel people.

Why would God send a message through his prophet to Judah telling them that Ninevah will be judged by God? American believers have likely never experienced the kind of cruelty that Israel experienced when they were captured by Assyria, but we have all faced cruelty of one form or another. At some point if often feels like the cruel get away with their cruelty and the righteous continue to suffer. Why would God send this message to Judah? Because he wanted to assure them that God had not forgotten them. He wanted to assure them that Assyria would not get away with it. He would judge Assyria for their cruelty.

We often struggle a bit with the judgments of God. We ask how a God of love can judge like that. The answer is that his judgment is in kind with the wickedness of those he judges. Sin always leaves brokenness in its wake. Sin hurts, maims, and destroys people. God judges people for the brokenness the create in creation, and particularly in the lives of others. His judgement is always just. His judgment is a comfort to believers that the ungodly will not get away with their ungodliness.

Whatever pain you are facing, whatever cruelty, whatever difficulty in life. Now is not forever. God will sort it out. The ungodly will not prosper forever. The Enemy will not reign in perpetuity. There is a judgment day coming. We can trust Him.