Way of The Warrior- A Daily Devotional

The LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD is avenging and wrathful; the LORD takes vengeance on his adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. The LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who take refuge in him. But with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the adversaries,and will pursue his enemies into darkness. – Nahum 1:2,7-8 ESV

Warrior.
Kristofer Holroyd writes an article supporting a Study, he had written, where he poses the question, Why Study the Books of Jonah, Micah, and Nahum? This article was about a series that Crossway.org did called, “Why study the book?” Holroyd states: ‘Like all of Scripture, each book of the Bible has been given by God to help us learn how to live and love like Jesus. Each book of the Bible has something unique to teach us about God, about ourselves, and about the meaning of life. In the books of Jonah, Micah, and Nahum, we learn more about our God. We see him as Creator and ruler of the created world. For example, in Jonah he “hurls” a great wind upon the sea (Jonah 1:4); he “appoints” a fish to swallow Jonah (Jonah 1:17) and later “speaks” to the same fish (Jonah 2:10); he also “appoints” a plant, and a worm, and a scorching east wind. (Jonah 4:6, 7) In Micah, we see creation itself cower before the Sovereign Ruler of the universe (Micah 1:2–4), and Nahum begins with an awe-inspiring depiction of God’s might and power in the midst of his creation (Nahum 1:2–5).

Leader, It is fascinating to understand how the Bible is all connected chronologically, systematically and divinely. The Glorified Chuck Missler use to say about the Bible, that it was; “66 books by 40 authors and we now find that it (the Bible) is an integrated message system from outside our time domain.” That is a healthy, proper view of the Bible, it is ONE MESSAGE and one of the mysteries is to understand how it is integrated and what that means for the world! This is why we have teachers and we are to search the scriptures and seek understanding from the Holy Spirit and those He uses to teach us! One of my favorite teachers is J. Vernon McGee who explains the integration between the 2 Old Testament books of Jonah and Nahum. About the book of Nahum, McGee says, “Nahum is a thrilling book to study because it reveals the other side of the attributes of God. God is love, but God is also holy and righteous and good. And God still moves in the lives of nations; therefore, this book speaks right into where we are today”. The book is about the city of Nineveh, that 100-150 years earlier had one of the greatest revivals ever, it had a 100% Repentance, and Reconciliation. “And the Ninevites believed God. They proclaimed a fast and dressed in sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least. When word reached the king of Nineveh, he got up from his throne, took off his royal robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then he issued a proclamation in Nineveh: “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let no man or beast, herd or flock, taste anything at all. They must not eat or drink. Furthermore, let both man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and have everyone call out earnestly to God. Let each one turn from his evil ways and from the violence in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent; He may turn from His fierce anger, so that we will not perish.” When God saw their actions—that they had turned from their evil ways—He relented from the disaster He had threatened to bring upon them”. (Jonah 3:5-10)

Conduit– things change, and what we once were, we are no longer- because what we did, we stopped doing! McGee goes on to say, “Two prophets preached to Nineveh: Jonah and Nahum. When Jonah preached repentance (765 B.C.), the people repented, and God spared them. 150 years later, Nahum preaches the same message, but the people reject it and are judged. The Takeaway? God is slow to anger and gives grace-but He won’t tolerate sin”. I think this is a warning to America. We used to be a Nation founded on Judeo-Christian values, we built our Constitution based on the Bible, it was a primary teaching tome in our schools until ‘Engel v Vitale’, June 25, 1962 everything changed. Before the 1960s there was little resistance to teaching religious principles, Bible reading, or prayer in school was the norm. You could walk into virtually any public school and see examples of teacher-led prayer and Bible reading. Scottish historian Alexander Tytler, who lived at the same time as the American Founding Fathers, described a repeating cycle in history. He had found that societies went through this same cycle again and again, and that the cycle lasted roughly 200 years each time. They start in bondage, then they get Spiritual-seeking God, that leads to Courage. We then take that Courage to become free with Liberty, which leads to abundance. Comfortable in Abundance we become Selfish which leads to Complacency, then it is called Apathy. From Apathy, we get into dependence on the government, which brings us FULL CIRCLE back to bondage! It is time TO WAKE UP AMERICA! We need to go back to the BASICS, back to our first love! Where are you at? Are you with Jonah, or Nahum? America is back into bondage to the God of Government, let us REPENT, like the Ninevites of Jonah’s day and again, SEEK THE LORD our GOD- before JUDGEMENT. But I have this against you, that you have abandoned the love you had at first. Remember therefore from where you have fallen; repent, and do the works you did at first. If not, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place, unless you repent. (Revelation 2:4-5)