Protected
Posted by Karah
Pause
Reflect on God’s compassion and patience. How can a compassionate God also be wrathful? Ask God to help you understand the full scope of His character as you study His Word today.
It’s easy for us to think about God’s love, compassion, and faithfulness. God is all of those things and more. But because He is just and holy, God is also a wrathful God. How does it make you feel to think about God as a God of wrath? List a few responses.
Now, read Nahum 1:2-6 in your Bible. Read verse 2 again carefully. Underline the emotions expressed by God in these verses.
“The Lord is a jealous and avenging God; the Lord takes vengeance and is fierce in wrath. The Lord takes vengeance against His foes; He is furious with His enemies.”
—Nahum 1:2
• How would you feel if those emotions were directed at you? Explain.
• If wrath was not part of God’s character, what would our world be like?
• God’s wrath is not directed at His children, but at His enemies, those who oppose Him. God is always ready to defend and fight for those who belong to Him. Why is this an important truth to understand?
Respond
God is passionate about protecting His people. He will direct His wrath at everyone and everything that opposes Him and His purposes. Nahum expressed those truths in a short two-stanza hymn. Write your own hymn of praise to God below, praising His character and power to defend and defeat all that oppose Him.
Behind the Story
Although the book of Nahum is written to the southern kingdom of Judah, God’s anger is directed toward their oppressors in Nineveh. Nahum comforts God’s people as he promises them that those who hate and harm them will indeed be punished, and that their own suffering will cease. It’s a reminder of God’s fierce protection. Without God’s intervention, the people of Judah had absolutely no chance to stand against their foe.
The Point
God’s righteous response to those who oppose Him and His children is wrath.
Posted in Devotions, Girls | Tagged Camp Crestridge for Girls, Reprinted from ec magazine. © 2012 LifeWay Christian Resources of the Southern Baptist Convention. Used by permission., Ridgecrest Summer Camps, Weekly Devotions