Slow to Anger but Just

In one paragraph

Pastor Ramon preached through the entire book of Nahum, a minor prophet most people in the room admitted they knew little about. The message lands squarely on God's judgment against Nineveh, the capital of the Assyrian Empire, and what that judgment reveals about who God is. It is a hard book to sit with, and Pastor Ramon did not try to soften that. Nahum opens by quoting God's own...

Read together

1. Isaiah 25:1 Read at the opening to lead into worship: 'Lord, you're my God. I will exalt you. I will give thanks to your name for you have worked wonders, plans formed long ago with perfect faithfulness.'
2. 1 Chronicles 16:34 Quoted before the offering: 'Give thanks to the Lord for he is good. His steadfast love endures forever.'
3. Nahum 1:1 Opening verse of the book, introducing 'The book of the vision of Nahum the Elkoshite.'
4. Nahum 1:2-3 Quoted describing God as jealous, avenging, wrathful, slow to anger, and great in power, who will by no means leave the guilty unpunished.
5. Exodus 34:6-7 God's self-revelation to Moses, quoted as the source Nahum draws from: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, abounding in steadfast love, yet will not leave the guilty unpunished.
6. Nahum 1:7 Quoted as the silver lining: 'The Lord is good, and he is a stronghold in the day of trouble, and he knows those who take refuge in him.'
7. Joel 2:32 Referenced in connection with Nahum 1:7: 'Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.'
8. Nahum 1:9 Quoted warning Assyria: 'Whatever you devise against the Lord, he's going to make a complete end of that plan.'
9. Nahum 1:12-13 God tells Judah he will break the yoke and shackles Assyria placed on them.
10. Nahum 1:14 God's command against Nineveh: their name will not be perpetuated, their gods eliminated, their grave prepared.
11. Nahum 1:15 Good news announced on the mountains, Judah told to celebrate feasts and pay vows, the wicked will pass through no more.
12. Nahum 2:1-2 The one who scatters comes against Judah; God will restore the splendor of Jacob.
13. Nahum 2:3-10 Battle scene describing the fall of Nineveh, chariots, warriors, gates of rivers opened, palace swaying.
14. Nahum 2:11-13 The den of lions metaphor applied to Nineveh; God declares 'I am against you, declares the Lord of armies.'
15. Nahum 3:1-3 Woe pronounced on the bloody city of Nineveh, full of lies and pillage, mass of corpses.
16. Nahum 3:4-6 Nineveh depicted as a prostitute and mistress of sorceries; God declares he will expose her shame.
17. Nahum 3:7 Nineveh devastated, no one to comfort her.
18. Nahum 3:8-10 Comparison to No Amon (Thebes), which fell in 663 BC despite strong allies, used as a warning to Nineveh.
19. Nahum 3:11-15 Nineveh told to prepare for siege; sarcastic call to strengthen fortifications; fire and sword will consume them like locusts consume crops.
20. Nahum 3:16-18 Traders and officials compared to migratory locusts that fly away; shepherds and king of Assyria sleeping while people scatter.
21. Nahum 3:19 Final verse: 'There is no relief for your collapse. Your wound is incurable. All who hear about you will clap their hands over you.'
22. Amos 3:7 Referenced to support the idea that God reveals his plans through prophets ahead of time: 'Surely, God does nothing without first revealing it through his prophets.'
23. Romans 3:23 Referenced in personal application: 'We all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.'
24. James 4:6 Referenced as drawing from Nahum's theme: 'God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.'
25. 1 Peter 5:5 Referenced alongside James as echoing Nahum's theme: 'God resists the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.'
26. 1 John 1:9 Paraphrased in connection with God's justice: 'If we confess our sins, if we agree with God about our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness.'
27. Colossians 3:12 Quoted as benediction: 'As God's chosen people, holy and dearly loved, be clothing yourselves with compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and patience.'

Talk about it

1. Pastor Ramon pointed out that the Assyrians repented under Jonah's preaching but eventually slid back into their old ways. What makes it hard to hold onto a change of heart over time, and what do you think helps people stay turned toward God?
2. Nahum opens by calling God jealous, avenging, and wrathful, and then just a few verses later says 'the Lord is good.' How do you hold those two descriptions together in your own understanding of who God is?
3. Pastor Ramon said that God's self-description to Moses, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, is exactly what Nahum quotes to announce judgment on Assyria. What does it tell you about God that the same qualities that offer mercy also guarantee that sin will not be overlooked forever?
4. The sermon described Assyria receiving back on themselves exactly what they had been doing to others, and Pastor Ramon said this is not karma but something God does. How does that distinction matter, and how does it shape the way you think about how you treat the people around you?
5. Pastor Ramon closed with his personal application from the book: that no one deserves God's grace, including himself, and that the people who oppose God are no less deserving of that grace than he is. How does that thought change the way you see someone in your life who seems, to you, like an enemy of God?