Nahum 1:12-13 (ESV)
Thus says the LORD,
“Though they are at full strength and many,
they will be cut down and pass away.
Though I have afflicted you,
I will afflict you no more.
And now I will break his yoke from off you
and will burst your bonds apart.”
We are told in the New Testament to not despise the discipline that God brings into our lives.
Hebrews 12:5-6 (ESV)
And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons?
“My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord,
nor be weary when reproved by him.
For the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and chastises every son whom he receives.”
However, the writer of Hebrews is just quoting Solomon:
Proverbs 3:11-12 (ESV)
My son, do not despise the LORD’S discipline
or be weary of his reproof,
for the LORD reproves him whom he loves,
as a father the son in whom he delights.
In the above passage from Nahum’s prophecy we read more about this discipline of God. During this time frame Israel and Judah had walked away from God. God brought discipline into their lives. He used the wicked nation of Assyria to do this. Their capital city was Nineveh. Jonah had reluctantly gone to Nineveh one-hundred years earlier to preach. This caused everyone to repent. But that repentance did not last. They once again became wicked and brutal in how they treated other nations. Especially God’s nation. They became the tool that God used to discipline their disobedience. (God always disciplines disobedience.) But God also has a limit to His discipline. We read that God tells the nation, through Nahum, that He is going to break the yoke that Assyria had put on them. God was going to give them mercy. We are not to despise God’s discipline because:
1. We deserve it when we are disobedient.
2. God controls it and brings it with the tools He wants.
3. God limits the discipline as it accomplishes its purpose.
Do not despise God’s discipline. Repent and cry for mercy. God will deliver you.
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