7/14 "The Good News of God's Jealousy"
IN A NUTSHELL: Jealousy is a powerful emotion, typically very negative and potentially very dangerous. It can be as addicting as any drug, and as destructive as any weapon known to man. But that does not mean Jealousy is always a sin: “The Lord is a jealous and avenging God.” (Nah. 1:2) God’s jealousy is motivated by selfless love, executed with perfect mercy, and aiming for precise justice. God’s jealousy separates the victim from the oppressor and the righteous from the wicked. If you seek the goodness of God he is your refuge, (Nah. 1:7) if you are against Him you will find no place to hide. (Nah. 3)
TEXT: Nahum 1:1-15
CONNECTING WITH THE TEXT:
- How are those that God enacts His wrath/vengance upon described? Nah. 1:2; 3:1-4
- What will God's wrath "look like" as poetically/prophetically described by Nahum? Nah. 2&3
- Judah, as well as other nations, had been incredibly oppressed by Nineveh. (Nah. 3:19b) How was the messenger of Nineveh's doom going to be perceived by Judah? Nah. 1:15; (see also Is. 52:7; Rom. 10:15)
- How can "jealousy" be a holy emotion? (2 Cor. 11:2)
- How might God's wrath and our kindness result in goodness? Romans 12:14-13:4
RESOURCES:
- Oprah rejected God because a minister said He was a jealous God. Video clip
- History of Nineveh (biblehistory.com)