From you, Nineveh, has one come forth who plots evil against the LORD and devises wicked plans. – Nahum 1:11

Today’s Scripture Reading (February 9, 2017): Nahum 1

Sometimes I wonder what kind of a letter we might write to God, especially if we were going to be honest. Maybe it would go something like this.

Dear God:

We recognize that you are Lord of all and that all of our confidence is supposed to be placed in you, but sometimes you just seem so far away. Besides, the heart wants what it wants. And with that, we can’t trust you.

And we know that you have commanded us to care for the poor and the lost and those in danger, but for our safety and preservation, we have to close our borders to the ones that you have placed in our care. It is just not worth the risk in order to try to please you – at least not right now. Maybe we will get to that later.

You see, we live in this world – and sometimes it does not seem that you really understand what it is like to have to live here. Someday, we will come and live with you in your realm and then we will do things your way. But for now, we will do things our way. After all, this is our realm, and we know what is best to be done here. So we will speak with your voice, and we ask you to please step aside and bless our actions and our desires as we do what we want.

We look forward to meeting you sometime in the future – and of course, we will see you in church on Sunday.

The Christians

Nahum talks of the one who comes out of Nineveh and plots evil against God. The one is likely Sennacherib. And part of his evil is that he dared to speak “with the voice of God” – he presumed to know better than God what needed to happen “in this realm.”

The evidence is found in a missive he sent to King Hezekiah of Judah. In the closing of the message, he tells Hezekiah this – ^“Furthermore, have I come to attack and destroy this place without word from the Lord? The Lord himself told me to march against this country and destroy it” (2 Kings 18:25). It was a lie; God had sent no such message to the man from Nineveh. But Sennacherib believed that he knew better than God about what to do on this planet of ours, and nothing could be more evil in the sight of God than for humans to try to speak with God’s voice – whether that describes Sennacherib, or whether it is a description of us.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Nahum 2