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From the class “Christ is All”. Used also at Belhaven University and in counseling and prison ministry.
In the last two posts, we examined Nahum 1:7. When we take a Christ-centered approach to this Old Testament (“OT”) verse, it teaches the whole Bible’s message in a nutshell. All of Scripture elaborates on this single text. Jesus taught that the Law of Moses, the Prophets, and the Psalms all point to Him.1 If you missed them, you can read: Jesus Christ is Good and Jesus Christ is Our Refuge in Time of Trouble
The LORD is good, A refuge in time of trouble; And He cares for those who trust in Him. (Nahum 1:7)
Christ Cares, Knows, and Loves You
The Hebrew verb for care in Nahum 1:7 is yada. It means the Lord knows all about you and what’s going on in your life. Christ understands how you are thinking, feeling, being inside and outside. He empathizes with you on good and bad days. At school, work, and home. When you’re alone and with others. Yada means Jesus is dedicated to loving you who trust in Him. He is committed to you in an unbreakable covenant relationship. Christ is fully God (100%) and fully human (100%) in one person, so He fully understands our world and our troubles. He experienced it firsthand. The Lord is not only sympathetic, He actively stoops down to help us in our time of need.2 What a Savior!
World population is approaching 8 billion and Christ recognizes His followers out of all the rest, in a special way. Like Christ protected Daniel in the lion’s den and Job in his misery. Like Jesus rescued Lazarus from the grave and Mary and Martha from their grief. In Bible times, the Lord faithfully cared for Naomi when her husband and sons died and for Ruth when her husband died and she came to a foreign country. In a similar way, Christ sees, knows, and loves you who follow Him. Jesus will never fail to keep you. He has your names in His heart, engraved on His hands, written in His book of life with His own precious blood.3 Christ says:
I won’t lose any of you the Father has given me. Everyone who looks to me and and believes on me shall have eternal life, and I will raise you up to be with me on the last day….My eyes range throughout the earth to strengthen you whose hearts are fully committed to me.4
WOW! Christ knows, loves, and cares for you, dear Christians! That’s amazing, because Nahum’s book talks so much about God’s punishment and people getting burned if we stay in our sin and do not turn back to God. Jesus loves His followers, but on Judgment Day, He will say to unbelievers and hypocrites—Depart from Me, you who hate God’s laws. I never knew you.5
Christ Carries You
Remember the story of the woman who dreams of walking on a beach with Jesus. She looks back over her life and sees her footprints and Christ’s footprints next to hers. At her saddest times she sees only one set of footprints, so she questions: Where were you, Lord? And Jesus says: My daughter, dear child, I will never leave or forsake you, never fail or abandon you. I will be with you always, to the very end of the age.6 During the trials and testings of life, when you see only one set of footprints, Christ says: I was carrying you!
The story is good, but Scripture teaches that Jesus always carries His believers. Not just sometimes. There are only one set of footprints all the time. If you are Jesus’ follower, you are reading this right now, alive right now, only because Christ carried you. He says—Even to your old age and gray hairs, I am He who made you, sustains you, rescues you, and I will carry you.7
Don’t Worry; Trust Christ
Jesus says—So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.8 That’s the only way we have survived, beloved. Eternal salvation is found in no one else but in Christ. No other way by which we must be saved.9 Jesus’ grace has brought us safe thus far and His grace will lead us home. So come back to Christ again and again. Return to Him every day, many times a day. Come to Jesus until you die or until He comes back again for us. Let’s pray: Be merciful to me, O God. Be my refuge, my shield, my stronghold, until all the calamities and disasters pass by.10
One hymn says: Jesus! What a friend for sinners! Jesus! Lover of my soul; Friends may fail me, foes assail me, He, my Savior, makes me whole. Hallelujah! What a Savior! Hallelujah! What a Friend! Saving, helping, keeping, loving, He is with me to the end.11
Seek the Lord
Christian brothers and sisters, rejoice that Christ cares about you, knows you, loves you. Believe, rely, and depend on Him for for eternal salvation and for daily struggles. And my unbelieving friends, Jesus invites you to become His followers today. The Bible says: Seek the Lord while He may be found; call on Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and He will have mercy on you. Turn to our God, for He will freely pardon you.12 Whoever calls on Jesus will be saved.13
This is the gospel of Christ our Lord. May God help us all to repent, believe, and follow Jesus and to live in His righteousness, peace, and joy.14
Nahum 1:7 says: “The LORD is good, a refuge in time of trouble. And He cares for those who trust in Him.”
Notes (various translations): 1 Luke 24:25-49. 2 Heb 2:17; 4:15-16. 3 Isaiah 49:16; Rom 17:8; Phil 4:3; Rev 3:3; 13:8; 20:11-15; 21:27. 4 John 6:39-40; 2 Chron 16:9, Zec 4:10. 5 Matthew 7:23. 6 Heb 13:5; Matt 28:20. 7 Isaiah 46:4. 8 Isaiah 41:10. 9 Acts 4:12. 10 Psalm 57:1. 11 Jesus! What a Friend for Sinners! by J. Wilbur Chapman (1910). 12 Isaiah 55:6-7. 13 Joel 2:32; Acts 2:21; Rom 10:13. 14 Rom 14:17.