Nahum, Habakkuk and Zephaniah
These books are short, but have rather hard names, which were the names of the men who wrote them. They all told of trouble to come to people of that time or later, because of wicked ways. It was not a happy work to tell or write these sorrows, and they are called “burdens”. We might think these could be of no use to us, yet there are words to help us now.
Perhaps you have been afraid when you saw a very black cloud in the sky, and knew a bad storm was near. Nahum wrote of storms, and His words have comforted all who trusted God:
The winds obey God, and He uses them as He knows right; they show His power; no one can hold back the force of a storm. So also when God uses His power to push, none can escape only by the way He shows.
God told those men to write of the destruction of the cities of that time so plainly, that any who read their words would run from the cities.
Just as plainly now, God’s Word tells us to believe in Jesus, to be saved from the punishment of our sins; we are not to wait, but to “run” to believe Him now.
God has always wanted His people to tell others of His mercy; these words of Nahum for Israel are repeated in the New Testament for us:
The paths over mountains are rough and stony for those who carry the message, but it brings peace to all who heat of God’s mercy. The prophet Habakkuk also spoke of the feet:
“The Lord is my strength, He will make my feet like hind’s feet” (a swift footed deer). So the Lord gives strength to those who trust Him to go, even over rough places, like the deer.
The last chapter of Habakkuk was a prayer, set to music and sung. These are some of the words:
The figs, vines, olives fields, and flocks were all what the people depended on for fdod and comfort, yet the salvation of God was better and greater than all.
Do you suppose if we had little food, we would still be happy, knowing the Lord is our salvation? We have greater reason to rejoice than they, because Christ has come.
The short book of Zephaniah was wrien in the days of the young king Josiah, who was glad to listen to God’s Words by the prophets. (Zeph. 1:11The word of the Lord which came unto Zephaniah the son of Cushi, the son of Gedaliah, the son of Amariah, the son of Hizkiah, in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah. (Zephaniah 1:1); 2 Chron. 34:1,301Josiah was eight years old when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem one and thirty years. (2 Chronicles 34:1)
30And the king went up into the house of the Lord, and all the men of Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and the priests, and the Levites, and all the people, great and small: and he read in their ears all the words of the book of the covenant that was found in the house of the Lord. (2 Chronicles 34:30)).
ML 09/20/1942