{"id":7721,"date":"2021-08-12T18:33:46","date_gmt":"2021-08-12T23:33:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/?p=7721"},"modified":"2021-08-12T18:33:46","modified_gmt":"2021-08-12T23:33:46","slug":"devotional-on-nahum-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/devotional-on-nahum-7\/","title":{"rendered":"Devotional on Nahum"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><figure style=\"width: 2048px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/-JMsPFUHAwL4\/YRREUyP1n8I\/AAAAAAABLBI\/3sGKFEf3qpgF9f5EGlvxdGOhXE3OG12dgCPcBGAsYHg\/s2048\/image-039.jpg\" width=\"2048\" height=\"1530\" class=\"size-large\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">2013 &#8211; Smoky Mountains and vicinity &#8211; White Water Falls<\/figcaption><\/figure><br \/>\nThe God of grace<br \/>\nNahum 1: He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help.<br \/>\nEven as the prophet prepares to deliver his sermon of condemnation on the mighty nation of Assyria he can\u2019t help but rejoice in the grace and mercy of God.  This same God who declares his judgment on those who reject his claim on their lives has nothing but good news for those who turn to him for help.  In fact, the Lord is drawn to such people.  I love the fact that even in these portions of the Old Testament that appear to be focused on God as Judge of the World that there are these beautiful word pictures of him as the God of Grace.  Nahum declares that \u201cno matter how desperate the trouble\u201d that God is more than willing to \u201crecognize and welcome\u201d all who come to him.  In an uncertain world I need such a Savior.  I\u2019m reminded in this passage that I don\u2019t have to come to God and convince him that I\u2019m worthy of his help in my life.  Instead, I see that he stands ready to extend his mercy to me.  In the parable of the prodigal son, the returning son expects to have to make concessions, to take a lowly role if he wants to, once again, have a place in the Father\u2019s household.  Instead, the Father runs to him, embraces him, and immediately begins celebrating his return.  Hundreds of years before Jesus ever tells this story, Nahum understands this about God, declaring, \u201cHe recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help.\u201d<br \/>\nTake Away: The Lord stands ready to extend his mercy to us.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The God of grace Nahum 1: He recognizes and welcomes anyone looking for help. Even as the prophet prepares to deliver his sermon of condemnation on the mighty nation of Assyria he can\u2019t help but rejoice in the grace and mercy of God. This same God who declares his judgment on those who reject his [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1520,6,7],"tags":[143,413,518,713,868,958],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7721"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7721"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7721\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15461,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7721\/revisions\/15461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7721"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7721"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/localhost\/pastorscott\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7721"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}