Title Today again today... (Nahum 1:9~15)
Contents
The book of Nahum is the story of the destruction of the city of Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire.
God announces the destruction of Nineveh through a prophet named Nahum.
There is another Bible that comes to mind when we think of 'the destruction of Nineveh'. That's Jonah.
God declared through the prophet Jonah, "In 40 days, this great city of Nineveh will fall." However, the people of Nineveh listened to the words of the prophet Jonah, and the people of the whole nation declared a fast and started a large-scale repentance movement. As a result, they will not be destroyed, but rather receive God's grace and mercy to build a strong and prosperous nation.
The prophet Jonah was a prophet who was active about 120-150 years before the prophet Nahum.
This means that the prophet Jonah preached the word 120 years ago, and the people of Nineveh who heard the word repented and received God's grace and lived happily for about 100 years. However, as 100 years passed, they again forgot God's grace, worshiped idols, and brutally trampled on neighboring countries to increase their power. So now, through the prophet Nahum, God pronounces judgment on them once again. However, this judgment is the judgment of eternal destruction, in which no opportunity for repentance is given. “He will completely destroy, and calamity will not happen again” (verse 9).
We should consider important lessons as we watch the city of Nineveh, which once received God's grace and mercy, suffered eternal judgment in God's wrath and was destroyed forever in history.
It is the fact that yesterday's blessings and peace do not guarantee blessings and peace in my life today. Yesterday was yesterday, and today is again today, so that God's grace and mercy can come into my life and I must live by faith.
The grace we received through worship on Sunday does not guarantee grace in our lives on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Wednesdays. We must remember that if we do not live a life of victory through faith through fierce spiritual battles in the world every day, we too can be disciplined by God like the people of Nineveh in the Assyrian Empire.
Do we not need God's grace and mercy in our lives today?
If so, we must live faithfully in the presence of God today as well.
In order to defeat the world's greed and sins, we must live today by being filled with the Holy Spirit and armed with prayer and the Word. God wants us to win spiritual warfare every moment. I hope that you and I can live a victorious life with faith today.