Good News Should Be Told - 2 Chronicles 29-32

 2 Chronicles 30:1-4 (ESV)

Passover Celebrated

Hezekiah sent to all Israel and Judah, and wrote letters also to Ephraim and Manasseh, that they should come to the house of the LORD at Jerusalem to keep the Passover to the LORD, the God of Israel. For the king and his princes and all the assembly in Jerusalem had taken counsel to keep the Passover in the second month— for they could not keep it at that time because the priests had not consecrated themselves in sufficient number, nor had the people assembled in Jerusalem— and the plan seemed right to the king and all the assembly.

When you have good news you should tell others.   Hezekiah’s reforms of chapter 29 have turned into his invitation to celebrate God in chapter 30.    When you have overflow in your heart for God it should compel you to want to declare it to others.   When Hezekiah cleansed the temple he may have thought it was cleaning out a constructed building.  But in reality he was stirring the hearts of his people.    He didn’t want this movement of the Spirit to be just for him and his people, however.  He invited all of Israel to honor God.  Most would reject his invite. Some even mocked him.  But, this is what happens when we have joy in our heart when God’s blessings flow to us.    Notice during the captivity how the lepors who discovered that they Assyrians had left their siege came to the same conclusion.  When they wandered off to get food they found the army gone.  They started to simply eat the food and then realized this was a time of celebration to share the good news:

 2 Kings 7:9 (ESV)

Then they said to one another, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news. If we are silent and wait until the morning light, punishment will overtake us. Now therefore come; let us go and tell the king's household.”

This should be the heart of every believer in Christ.   We have overflowing blessings in our lives as a result of Christ’s death in our place.  We are to rejoice and tell the world.   We tend to hide our light under a bushel basket when we should shout it from the roof tops.  Good news of God’s love is contagious ... at least it should be.  

God Demands Holiness - Deuteronomy 7-9

 Deuteronomy 7:1-5 (ESV)

“When the LORD your God brings you into the land that you are entering to take possession of it, and clears away many nations before you, the Hittites, the Girgashites, the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, seven nations more numerous and mightier than you, and when the LORD your God gives them over to you, and you defeat them, then you must devote them to complete destruction. You shall make no covenant with them and show no mercy to them. You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the LORD would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But thus shall you deal with them: you shall break down their altars and dash in pieces their pillars and chop down their Asherim and burn their carved images with fire.

One of the many truths believers tend to forget is that the work of spiritual growth and spiritual success is on the back of Jesus and not us.   We are to walk in obedient faith and express the love that God has created in our hearts for Him and others.   It is all based upon faith.   In the above passage we read about the nation of Israel who are being prepared, by Moses, to enter the promise land.   In the above passage Moses reminds them of three things:

1).  Any victory of any enemy will be because God did it!    We, like them, don’t secure our own victories over sin.   It is by faith through obedience that we secure any victory in Christ. 

2).  There is no compromise with sin, there is only the utter destruction (mortification) of sin.   Like the nation of Israel coming into the promise land, our sanctification is not compromising with sin.  We are to utterly destroy sin in our lives.   We are not to dance with it.  We are not to flirt with it.   We are to completely destroy it.  They were not to inter-marry with the people of the land.  We are not to inter-marry with the sin of our day.  The world is not our affection.   God is!  

3).  They were not to have any fellowship with the spiritual practices of the world around them.   They were to utterly destroy any of those artifacts.    The same is true with us today.  We are not to have any relationship with false doctrine and worldly myths.   We are to focus on the true God and our faith in loving obedience to Him.    We are not to entertain new doctrine that fits today’s philosophical world.   We are to burn it with fire.    

The people of Israel were to enter the promise land and these three points were to be observed.   Believers today are to enter into the promise land of holiness with God.  These three truths are to be observed by us, as well.  

Teachers in the Church - James 1-3

 James 3:1-5 (ESV)

Not many of you should become teachers, my brothers, for you know that we who teach will be judged with greater strictness. For we all stumble in many ways. And if anyone does not stumble in what he says, he is a perfect man, able also to bridle his whole body. If we put bits into the mouths of horses so that they obey us, we guide their whole bodies as well. Look at the ships also: though they are so large and are driven by strong winds, they are guided by a very small rudder wherever the will of the pilot directs. So also the tongue is a small member, yet it boasts of great things.

How great a forest is set ablaze by such a small fire!

In the ESV Bible this section has been given the title of, “Taming the Tongue.”  That makes sense as you read the above verses and those that follow.    Whereas that is true, the first verse also gives us some insight into the apostle James’ intent about this section.   In the days of the early church we did not have established churches with established pastors or established methods for hiring pastors.  Today, if you needed a pastor to teach the church you can actually go to a popular employment site and post your needed position.    In the meantime you might have a member of the church fill in to teach the body.     

In the days James is writing (his letter may be one of the first letters written to the church) you did not have many church members that well versed in how the Old Testament told about Jesus.    You also didn’t, yet, have a formal New Testament Bible.   So, “teachers” would wander from church body to church body to “teach.”  This is James’ point with this section.   The tongue is used to teach.   It can do some great things. It can do some great harm.  Yes, you can apply this entire section on how you use the tongue in every day work and play.  But, that is not the context of the passage.   James is particularly addressing those in the church who could and do set the church in a particular doctrinal direction.    They need to make sure their tongues are bridled and their words are not driven by the winds of false doctrine.   They can, with their words, set the entire Body of Christ on fire.    Just one or two false lines of doctrine and the entire membership of the church can be set ablaze.    

Teachers, therefore, will be judged by a greater measure by God. Read 2 Peter 2 if you don’t see this.   The false teachers that Peter addresses where using their position for fitly gain:

2 Peter 2:14-16 (ESV)

They have eyes full of adultery, insatiable for sin. They entice unsteady souls. They have hearts trained in greed. Accursed children! Forsaking the right way, they have gone astray. They have followed the way of Balaam, the son of Beor, who loved gain from wrongdoing, but was rebuked for his own transgression; a speechless donkey spoke with human voice and restrained the prophet's madness.

So, we see that men were using their position, as they have for a long time, for greed and gain.   Let’s make sure that we have teachers that are doing the teaching in the right way and for the right motives.  

Man is an Instrument for God - Acts 9-10

Acts 9:15 (ESV)

But the Lord said to him, “Go, for he is a chosen instrument of mine to carry my name before the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel.

God chooses to use people for His purpose.  That is the reason they have been created. 

In the above passage we are taking one verse out of the section about Saul’s conversion to faith in Christ (he will eventually be renamed Paul).   In chapter nine we read that Saul was on a mission to bring Jewish believers in Christ back to Jerusalem for some sort of legal proceedings that could, possibly, lead to their death.   That was his designed mission.   He requested “papers” from the High Priest that authorized him to take capture anyone who was part of the Way (this was what they called the early church ... Acts 9:1).    

As Saul was traveling to do commit these acts against the Way, he was confronted by Christ and was blinded because of the light of that confrontation.   For the next three days he is without sight, without food and without understanding.   When God instructs a current believer (in the Way) to go to Saul (Ananias) he is fearful of Saul, rightly so.    Yet, God tells Ananias to not be afraid of Saul because He has called Saul and made him to be a “chosen instrument” (vessel) to carry the message of the gospel to Jews and Gentiles and kings.   This word “chosen instrument” was often used for the tackle on a ship.    It was a common term for any type of equipment or apparatus.    The point we see in this verse is that even though a man might have his own mission and it might even be against the cause of Christ, God has the power to change that man.  God has chosen men to be “instruments” for His plans and His missions.   Saul may have wanted to do something with his life that he wanted.  But, God as put Saul on this earth for a mission that God designed for him.    We are not our own.  God puts men and women on the earth to accomplish something He has designed.   

When We Disagree with God’s Methods - Habakkuk 1-3

 Habakkuk 3:16 (ESV)

I hear, and my body trembles;

my lips quiver at the sound;

rottenness enters into my bones;

my legs tremble beneath me.

Yet I will quietly wait for the day of trouble

to come upon people who invade us.

To put the above verse into a practical setting imagine you have just gone to your boos or supervisor with a complaint.   You had a number of questions about the operation and how you thought “it should be going.”    Your boss is a kind man, but you also know he can be rather intimidating.   To your surprise he listens to you and even debates you on the merits of your ideas.  He does not agree with you.  He sees that you are limited in your scope regarding how the organization is run.   When you leave his top floor, corner office to head back down to your cubicle in the basement you are both trembling, but encouraged that you not only survived and were not fired, but he heard you.  

This is the story of Habakkuk.  He was a prophet who dared to confront God with his claim of unfairness regarding what was going on in the mail room in the basement.   God heard him and replied.  Throughout the book God even interacted with him.   Habakkuk’s book is like someone arguing with God in prayer (see the story of Jacob wrestling with God in Genesis 32).   Habakkuk was frustrated that God was using a wicked nation (Babylon) to punish his nation (Judah).   The Assyrians had already taken them captive but had treated them somewhat in a good way (at least the remnant).  Babylon was a very wicked group of people.   The prophet was confused as to why God, who controls all powers, would allow a more wicked nation to destroy a more righteous nation (speaking in relative terms).   God engages and tells him that God does what He wants to make His plan work.   He never really gives Habakkuk the answers he wants.  But, he does make sure that Habakkuk knows that He is IN CONTROL and He still has compassion on His people.  This leaves the prophet as we read above.  He is both “trembling” and content to “wait” God out to see the finish of God’s plan.   God had promised him that He would ALSO be punishing Babylon at some point.   So, Habakkuk is content to wait it out.   His final refrain is set up by this above resolve to wait for God’s salvation, even though he disagrees with God’s methods:

Habakkuk 3:17-19 (ESV)

Though the fig tree should not blossom,

nor fruit be on the vines,

the produce of the olive fail

and the fields yield no food,

the flock be cut off from the fold

and there be no herd in the stalls,

yet I will rejoice in the LORD;

I will take joy in the God of my salvation.

GOD, the Lord, is my strength;

he makes my feet like the deer's;

he makes me tread on my high places.

To the choirmaster: with stringed instruments.

Sometimes, when we are the most confused and the most in disagreement of His methods we need to sit and wait.  We can tremble and notice that everything is bad, but we also know that God is our strength and eventually puts us on our high places and makes our feet like the deers.   

Created - Meet Your Creator! Ecclesiastes 1-2

 Ecclesiastes 1:3-7 (ESV)

What does man gain by all the toil

at which he toils under the sun?

A generation goes, and a generation comes,

but the earth remains forever.

The sun rises, and the sun goes down,

and hastens to the place where it rises.

The wind blows to the south

and goes around to the north;

around and around goes the wind,

and on its circuits the wind returns.

All streams run to the sea,

but the sea is not full;

to the place where the streams flow,

there they flow again.

Solomon, based upon God’s Word, was the wisest human being who ever lived.   Jesus Christ is wisdom (1 Corinthians 1-2), but Solomon was given wisdom by God, in abundance, as a gift.   In the book of Ecclesiastes we read about his application of this knowledge to his everyday life.   As always, however, you can’t read (or shouldn’t read) any portion of the book without first reading his conclusion.  

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 (ESV)

The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.

Solomon is setting out to explore the world.  He wants to use wisdom to find what life is about.   His conclusion tells us what he found.  The conclusion makes the above introduction make sense.   There is NOTHING on earth that makes sense and will solve the hole in man’s heart except our relationship with the God who created us.  Creation is not the solution for God’s created.   The Creator is the solution for those God creates.   If we look carefully, Solomon is telling us, all things just keep repeating.  They never change.  Yes, each generation might have a different look at what they see and do, but they see and do what every generation that came before them (and after them) sees or will see.   The entire book is summed up in the introduction and the conclusion.   Nothing we see and touch will fill that hole in our soul.   Nothing God created can replace the Creator who formed it.  

Israel Is Protected - Psalms 122-124

 Psalms 124:1-3 (NASBStr)

 “ Had it not been the Lord who was on our side,”

 Let Israel now say,

 “Had it not been the Lord who was on our side

When men rose up against us,

 Then they would have swallowed us alive,

When their anger was kindled against us;

It is the old play-ground quote that states, "My dad is bigger than you dad!"    That was the trump card of all arguments.   Sometimes "dad" would be replaced with brother; uncle; or, worse, mom.   You knew if some kid through down the "mom" card you were in trouble.   Knowing that you have powerful person on your side made you much bolder at the swing set.   In the above Psalm we have the best throw-down of all: My God is bigger than you god.   The writer here makes it plan to all who read that if it were not for his God, he would be defeated.   He even states it twice.   The emphatic nature of the repetition should not be missed.   Notice the peril that would await them had not God been there to rescue: Swallowed alive!!  Men live to swallow others (see Prov. 1:12).  We may not think it but men live for the destruction of other men.   We ought not be naive in the land we live; there is but one step between us and death - were it not for our God.   Man's anger is kindled against the believer.  It is simply restrained by the working of the Holy Spirit in the world.   If the Holy Spirit were removed we would see the full wrath and violence of man toward each other (2 Thess. 2:1-12).  Let us praise God that He walks with us, beside and before us.  He is on our side.

The above journal entry was written in 2018.   I failed to even mention that Psalm 124 was “a song of ascents.”  That meant the song was sung as the people went up to worship in Jerusalem.   It was a song to sing out praise to God for His divine protection.  It is now 2023.   A week or so ago Israel was once again attacked by her enemies.   She is in a heated battle, again, to defend herself as her enemies have a sworn duty to their god to obliterate Israel out of existence.   We don’t have a date for the psalm but we can assume it was written somewhere prior to the fall of Israel, so prior to 700 BC.   We are reading a song that was composed over 3,000 years ago that starts with the above refrain needed at this very moment.   If it had not been for God being on their side, Israel would be consumed by her enemies.   Never has there been a nation who has been the center of so much hatred.   But, the verse is still true.  It is not the help of other countries, it is not the commited army Israel has, nor is it the sophisticated technology they have that will save Israel.  It is one thing and one thing alone, God is on their side.  They are still His chosen people.   During the end times we read that God will once again restore them to that status.   The above words are the refrain for the day. If God was not on their side their enemies would swallow them alive.   

Keep Your Vows - 2 Chronicles 25-28

 2 Chronicles 25:9 (ESV)

And Amaziah said to the man of God, “But what shall we do about the hundred talents that I have given to the army of Israel?” The man of God answered, “The LORD is able to give you much more than this.”

In the above verse we read about King Amaziah and his conversation with a “man of God,” his counselor.   Amaziah was planning on going to war against the Edomites.   God had prepared him and equipped him.  But, he went out and also hired 100,000 mighty men from Israel.   He had paid them 100 talents of silver to fight for him.   But, the “man of God” came to him and confronted him about hiring these extra warriors when God had promised him victory.    As we read in the verse, Amaziah was okay letting the 100,000 soldiers to and was willing to trust God.  But, he had an issue with the 100 talents of silver.  He didn’t want to lose the cash down payment he made.    His shortsightedness is noted by the “man of God.”   He would be cared from by God.   Although later in life Amaziah does turn to become an evil king, God does reward him through this victory over the Edomites.   The “man of God” was sent to remind him of God’s faithfulness and the importance of him keeping is vows.  In Psalm 15 we read about the qualities of a godly man, about a man who wants to dwell with God. One of the requirements is to keep your vow about something, even if it hurts you to do so:

Psalms 15:4b (ESV)

... who swears to his own hurt and does not change;

When we commit to something we are to follow through with that commitment.   We are not to bypass the vow, even if it hurts.  Amaziah was shortsighted in his decision making.    The “man of God” convinced him to honor his vow and God would honor him.  That is a principle we are to follow in life to please God.   Just as God keeps His vows and covenants and promises to us, so, too, we are to reflect His nature by keeping our vows and promises.  No matter if it hurts after we make the vow.  

We Can Approach God Through His Son - Deuteronomy 4-6

 Deuteronomy 5:25-27 (ESV)

Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, we shall die. For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire as we have, and has still lived? Go near and hear all that the LORD our God will say, and speak to us all that the LORD our God will speak to you, and we will hear and do it.’

When confronted by God at the foot of Mt. Horeb, the people of Israel had enough.  They saw the smoke and the fire and heard the voice of God.   After a brief time they came to Moses and asked for an intermediary (Moses) to hear God’s Word and then relay it to them.   We have to realize that God was in the midst of talking to them when the leaders approach Moses with this request.   Imagine such a thing if a dignitary  was speaking and someone was fearful of them they asked for a stand-in to hear their words and dumb it down for them later?   Imagine!!   Yet, this is what the nation of Israel did in the midst of God speaking to them.   What would be your response if you were talking to someone and they were so in awe and fear of you they asked for a substitute to deliver the message later?   Here is God’s response to the people:

Deuteronomy 5:28-29 (ESV)

“And the LORD heard your words, when you spoke to me. And the LORD said to me, ‘I have heard the words of this people, which they have spoken to you. They are right in all that they have spoken. Oh that they had such a heart as this always, to fear me and to keep all my commandments, that it might go well with them and with their descendants forever!

They feared God and that was a good thing.   The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom (Proverbs 9:10).   This is the correct response to being confronted with God.  This is why we need someone to stand between us and God.  This is who Moses was for the people.   This is who Jesus is for us.  Let us rejoice that Jesus has become our Moses and has made a way for us to approach God through Him with full assurance of faith:

Hebrews 10:19-23 (ESV)

The Full Assurance of Faith

Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the holy places by the blood of Jesus, by the new and living way that he opened for us through the curtain, that is, through his flesh, and since we have a great priest over the house of God, let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, with our hearts sprinkled clean from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water. Let us hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering, for he who promised is faithful.

Church Polity - Hebrews 11-13

Hebrews 13:17 (ESV)

Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you.

The early church did not have a set of norms or standards or policies or procedures already in place when it was birthed.   Unlike our churches today, the first churches had to not just build the Body of believers, find a place to worship, avoid persecution, develop doctrine and find qualified leaders.  They also had to set up what is commonly called church polity (governance).   We read about some of that in Acts 6 and a small portion in Acts 15 (although that passage was more about doctrine).   In the above verses we read about the roles and responsibilities of the church and their church leadership, toward each other.   Leaders had a responsibility of oversight and watchfulness and the members had a responsibility of submission and being accountable.   Imagine how that all unfolded then, especially when you compare to today’s church.  Today’s church is not always that willing to submit in obedience to the leadership of a church.  And, today’s church leaders are not always worthy have said submission.   Not what one commentary stated about this passage:

(NIV Application Commentary Hebrews) By guiding the church in doctrinal integrity the leaders “watch over” (agrypneo) the lives of those committed to their charge. This word, when used metaphorically, means to be spiritually alert or wide awake (see Mark 13:33; Luke 21:36; Eph. 6:18). The responsibility associated with such leadership is weighty, since the leaders must “give an account” of their instructional oversight (James 3:1).

Since the leaders must “give an account” for their leadership it follows that, at some point, also, the members will also held accountable.   This leader-follower dynamic is unusual.  The market-place does not have this aspect in a spiritual sense.   In the market place today followers would not be told to “submit” to their leaders.  They certainly are asked to be in compliance, but the world “submission” would be taboo.   That same thought has found its way into our church polity.  It is doubtful many church leaders use the word.    We certainly hold leaders in the market place accountable, but it is not in the sense that they are watching over the “souls” of their direct reports.   Rather they are watching over the performance and outcomes each day.   The church polity dynamic is so out of the realm of today’s marketplace.  Yet, today’s marketplace leadership principles seem to be taught and demanded on the church.   It might be wise for us within the Body of Christ to practice what is giving to us in Scripture vs what is called upon by Society.  

It is Not the Position We Hold, It is the Person Who Holds Us - Acts 7-8

Acts 7:59-60 (ESV)

And as they were stoning Stephen, he called out, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” And falling to his knees he cried out with a loud voice, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.” And when he had said this, he fell asleep.

The story of Stephen is one of the most beautiful and at the same time, tragic, in the book of Acts.   Stephen was selected to “wait on tables.”  In the early church they had a great concern to care for the members of the church; all the members.   One group of the church was the widows and Stephen was one of the men who was selected to care for them.   But, his official “position” in the church did not limit him in his “service” to the church.  He was not limited to giving food to widows and expanded his ministry to give truth to those he would come into contact.   That day there were seven men selected.  But shortly after this is what is says about Steven:

Acts 6:8-9 (ESV)

And Stephen, full of grace and power, was doing great wonders and signs among the people. Then some of those who belonged to the synagogue of the Freedmen (as it was called), and of the Cyrenians, and of the Alexandrians, and of those from Cilicia and Asia, rose up and disputed with Stephen.

He was willing to not just serve, he was willing to speak. That put him into a persecuted role that would end in only one sermon ever preached.   The results of his speaking the truth about Christ would cause the above events; his being stoned by the crowed.   One could have all types of emotions and behaviors in a situation like this.   Probably one of the last things most of us would do was what Stephen did.    He forgave them.   We have trouble in our churches today with people forgiving others for the most minor of things.  And this is brother to brother.   Yet, here we have a man of God, selected to wait on tables, willing to forgive and pray for his assailants and ask that God forgive them.   This is the gospel message.   God would exalt Stephen in his role in the church because Stephen had exalted God in the role of his life.   We need not think of our lives in relationship to our position in the Body of Christ.  Instead we ought to think of our lives in relationship to Christ.   As we allow Him to control us, He will be the One who controls our lives.   Stephen had the spirit of Christ in him.  As Christ died for us on the cross He asked God to forgive His assailants.  So too a man filled with the Spirit of Christ.   

God Can and Will Punish Those Who Persecute His People - Nahum

 Nahum 1:3-7 (ESV)

The LORD is slow to anger and great in power,

and the LORD will by no means clear the guilty.

His way is in whirlwind and storm,

and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;

he dries up all the rivers;

Bashan and Carmel wither;

the bloom of Lebanon withers.

The mountains quake before him;

the hills melt;

the earth heaves before him,

the world and all who dwell in it.

Who can stand before his indignation?

Who can endure the heat of his anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire,

and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

The LORD is good,

a stronghold in the day of trouble;

he knows those who take refuge in him.

To set the stage for the above passage we have to know the reason Nahum wrote this book.   At the time the nation of Assyria was the most powerful nation on the earth.  They were also the most cruel nation on the earth.  About 100 years earlier Jonah traveled to the capital of Assyria, Nineveh.   He proclaimed God’s mercy if they would only repent.   They did.  But, a century in time later the next generations returned to their previous patterns.   They were evil, cruel and barbaric in their treatment of those not their own.   Nahum came to prophesy against them.   He did so to encourage the southern nation of Judah.   The Assyrian’s crushed the northern tribes (Israel).   But, God would intervene.  Nahum tells us why and how in his book.  But, in the above passage he tells us the capacity, capability and conviction of God’s power to do so.    You can say you can do something and show you have the capacity.  But, if you also don’t have the conviction of character to do it, it matters not the power you posses.   God has the conviction and the power.   Those who hurt and injury and malign His people stand in the way of God’s powerful wrath and outstretched arm.  Note what Peter said about those in the early church who were preaching error to the church.  These false teachers may not look barbaric in their practice, but spiritually that is exactly what they were doing to the souls of the church.  Note how these word’s align with Nahum’s message:

2 Peter 2:3-10 (ESV)

And in their greed they will exploit you with false words. Their condemnation from long ago is not idle, and their destruction is not asleep.

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but cast them into hell and committed them to chains of gloomy darkness to be kept until the judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah, a herald of righteousness, with seven others, when he brought a flood upon the world of the ungodly; if by turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah to ashes he condemned them to extinction, making them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued righteous Lot, greatly distressed by the sensual conduct of the wicked (for as that righteous man lived among them day after day, he was tormenting his righteous soul over their lawless deeds that he saw and heard); then the Lord knows how to rescue the godly from trials, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment until the day of judgment, and especially those who indulge in the lust of defiling passion and despise authority.

Bold and willful, they do not tremble as they blaspheme the glorious ones,

God knows how to deliver the godly out of danger and to keep the ungodly ready for punishment.  That is the message of both Nahum and Peter.   It may not be in our life time, but the ungodly will be punished.    We will be delivered as we walk in obedience to Him.