The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him.
--Nahum 1:7
Okay, be honest.
How long would it take you to find Nahum in the Bible? He is one of the "minor" prophets, just a few pages long, tucked in after Micah. If the pages stick together (from overuse, I am sure), you will miss Nahum altogether.
And yet, this morning, Nahum found me.
Thursday mornings, a group of us gather for prayer at a local bagel shop. Usually, I receive the Scripture from whoever is giving the sermon on Sunday, and we share that as well, and talk about it.
This morning, I had nothing. So as I am wont to do when that happens, I turned to the lectionary passages for the week. I gave them a quick glance, figured I would decide when I got there. (We meet at 6:45 a.m. It is just too early to do much thinking.)
As I am driving the mile-and-change to get there, my mind is wandering, mulling over the lectionary passages in my sleepy brain. Hmm-- will it be David wanting to build God a sanctuary or will it be Paul's thoughts on circumcision from Ephesians? Or-- Mark has Jesus preachin' and healin'. Business as usual there.
What to do, what to do.
I stop at a light, look up and there is a Kia Soul in front of me, that kind of weird kiwi color, with a personalized license plate:
1 NAHUM 7
I get to the bagel shop, whip out my Bible and look up Nahum 1:7.
The Lord is good,
a refuge in times of trouble.
He cares for those who trust in him.
Wow. Who'da thunk it?
In this prophecy from a man about whom we know virtually nothing, in a prophecy of doom and destruction, this wonder-filling nugget of hope and promise.
Please understand. I am not the kind of girl who prays, opens the Good Book and expects God to give me something. It's just not my style.
But this was-- perfection.
We talked quite a bit about this verse, shared where God has left big ole thumbprints of goodness on our lives, often where we least expected it.
Provision in times of hardship of many ilk.
Beautiful, heartfelt testimony of God intimately at work in our lives.
For me, this was important because this verse is easy to affirm in grandiose, vague, uncertain terms. But what does it look like-- with legs on?
It looks like an unexpected check in the mail when the rent comes due.
It looks like a new relationship arising from the ashes of broken hopes and broken hearts.
It looks like following through on a hunch about a job, one for which one is decidedly underqualified-- and being hired by someone who admittedly is unsure why they have chosen you.
It looks like unexpected conversations, random moments filled with hope and promise, where before appeared only bleak desolation.
It looks-- like God.
If you don't like the tune, mute it-- and just allow your eyes and your heart to feast on the images.
Gracious, God, thank you for opening our eyes and our hearts to see and affirm your wonderful presence and provision in our often-empty lives. Amen.
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