Perspective

I read Nahum today. Nahum is one of those books that can be easily overlooked. It is small. It is a book of prophecy, which means it is full of doom and destruction for someone. It is so easy to spend more time and effort on other books in the Bible.

But as I read it this morning, something really grabbed me. Nahum is a book of contradictions, especially in the first chapter. I am not going to type out all of these verses, but you can still scroll over the references and read them to see what I mean.

First of all, we have Nahum 1:2-3. Verse two shows God's fierce anger whereas verse three says He is slow to anger. Then we read Nahum 1:4-6 which outlines frightening images of what God's power can do - especially in His anger. This is followed up by Nahum 1:7 which begins simply with "The Lord is good..." Then there are more verses of destruction and demise that are followed up with the final verse of the first chapter, Nahum 1:15 - a verse of celebration.

God's perspective is not like ours.

Sometimes I wonder - will we ever truly figure that out? In the middle of all of the words and works of judgment of the Lord, we are reminded that He is slow to anger, He is good, and we can celebrate that goodness. How does it really fit together? How is it truly reconciled?

I have been reminded on multiple occasions lately that God does not fit in my little box. Just because He doesn't act or respond as I think He should does not mean that He is wrong. It does not mean that He is not good. It just means that I, once again, need to surrender my perspective to Him. I need to accept that His ways are not like mine, nor are His thoughts. They are higher. They are not just purer - they are the essence of pure. They are not just better, they are good. And there is nothing better than His goodness. If His thoughts and ways do not line up with mine, then I guess that means it is time for me to surrender mine and accept His once and for all!