What to do When Oppressed - -

This post is from notes at our Bible Study Sunday morning at 9:30 am at Open Door Church.

Lions Inhabited the Dry Places where the City Once Was

What do we do when we pray and don’t seem to get an answer?  We trust that God is at work behind the scenes.

When we are oppressed, we must allow God to vindicate us.  “Vengeance is mine I will repay,” says God.

God’s mercy is great, but His justice requires Him to sometimes punish evil.  As we study the prophesies of Nahum against Nineveh we discover that God sent foreign armies to destroy the city and finally it was inhabited with lions.  What a great city it had been. There was much national pride and celebration in their accomplishments. 

 

Much gold and silver adorned the city and the King was extremely rich and powerful.  His Assyrian Army was fierce with well trained horses as they made their conquests.  The King would even hunt lions, but eventually after the city was overthrown, the lions took over.

Nahum 2:11-12  NLT Where now is that great Nineveh, that den filled with young lions? It was a place where people--like lions and their cubs--walked freely and without fear. The lion tore enough for his cubs and strangled prey for his lionesses; he filled his caves with prey and his dens with torn flesh.

The city was now empty and a waste land.  Messengers, leaders of Government will not be heard in its gates anymore.

Why would God destroy a nation?  God has no pleasure in the death of the wicked.  The mouth of the people showed love, but their heart was full of covetousness and pride.

Ezekiel 33:28-29 “I will make the land a desolation and a waste, and the pride of her power will cease; and the mountains of Israel will be desolate so that no one will pass through. “Then they will know that I am the LORD, when I make the land a desolation and a waste because of all their abominations which they have committed.”

The people were disobedient to God’s laws.  They ate blood, worshipped idols committed adultery, and thought nothing of murder.  Their hearts were quick to do all kinds of evil and they were turned away from serving God in Heaven.

God is patient, but finally enough is enough. 

False prophets brought in damnable heresies and as 2 Peter 2:1 denotes, we must still deal with such falseness today.

The cities of Sodom and Gomorrah were turned into ashes by God.  Balaam was not allowed to curse Israel, but he persuaded them to party and commit sexual sins.

Proverbs 3:25 Be not afraid of sudden fear, neither of the desolation of the wicked, when it comes.

It is important for us to not break covenant, lest punishment come to us.  God is Long Suffering and gives lots of opportunity for us to repent, but we must not take advantage of His mercy.

A Nation that shall be blessed must seek God and serve Him.  It is time for our land to clean up their act, and eliminate those things that displease God.  There must be complete submission to God and to His Way. (will.)

2 Chronicles 7:14  If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Part of our nation is rebelling against our God.  Pray for revelation knowledge to chose Jesus. 

 

We all have a personable responsibility to choose to serve God. 

 

It is up to us to pray and seek God and His face for ourselves.  It is always an issue to make that choice to have a relationship with Christ Jesus.