Daily Prayer Devotional for Women and Men

Devotional

(From Scripture Union)

WHEN THE LION ROARS!

Pray

Coming to your Word today, heavenly Father, I look to your Spirit to teach me, to encourage me, to convict me. Help me to know and trust you better.

Read

NAHUM 2

Nineveh to Fall 2 [a]An attacker advances against you, Nineveh. Guard the fortress, watch the road, brace yourselves, marshal all your strength! 2 The Lord will restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel, though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines. 3 The shields of the soldiers are red; the warriors are clad in scarlet. The metal on the chariots flashes on the day they are made ready; the spears of juniper are brandished.[b] 4 The chariots storm through the streets, rushing back and forth through the squares. They look like flaming torches; they dart about like lightning. 5 Nineveh summons her picked troops, yet they stumble on their way. They dash to the city wall; the protective shield is put in place. 6 The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses. 7 It is decreed[c] that Nineveh be exiled and carried away. Her female slaves moan like doves and beat on their breasts. 8 Nineveh is like a pool whose water is draining away. “Stop! Stop!” they cry, but no one turns back. 9 Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold! The supply is endless, the wealth from all its treasures! 10 She is pillaged, plundered, stripped! Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale. 11 Where now is the lions’ den, the place where they fed their young, where the lion and lioness went, and the cubs, with nothing to fear? 12 The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey. 13 “I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty. “I will burn up your chariots in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will leave you no prey on the earth. The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard.”

Footnotes Nahum 2:1 In Hebrew texts 2:1-13 is numbered 2:2-14. Nahum 2:3 Hebrew; Septuagint and Syriac ready; / the horsemen rush to and fro. Nahum 2:7 The meaning of the Hebrew for this word is uncertain.

Meditate

Consider

‘Do not weep! See, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed.’1 What thoughts and feelings does the prospect of Christ’s triumphant return evoke?

Think Further

Nahum’s opening verse may sound like an alarm – ‘An attacker advances against you’ – and a call to defensive action (v. 1). Unlike in Jonah’s time, however, when Nineveh received a 40-day grace period within which to repent,2 now the gavel comes down hard, with a note of finality, as God’s judgment is pronounced in favor of Judah (v. 2) and against Nineveh (v. 7). The prophet envisions the executioners storming the city (vv. 3, 4) to carry out God’s sentence (vv. 5–13).

The Assyrian king Sennacherib “boasted of his military fury by saying, ‘Like a lion I raged.’”3 Assyria was the fierce and feared hunter of the ancient Near East; the nations were its terrified prey; and Nineveh was its ‘den’ (v. 11) – stronghold of the Assyrian army, a safe place for its people, the storehouse for its plundered treasures. But when the ‘Lord Almighty’ intervenes (v. 13) this lion king will fall prey to the wrath of the King of kings! A taunting song mocks Nineveh: ‘Where now is the lions’ den?’ (v. 11). The tables will be turned as the oppressor is overthrown, the hunter hunted down, the predator preyed upon. With their sophisticated machinery of war (‘chariots’) and skilled warriors (‘young lions’) destroyed, Assyria will no longer ‘prey’ on the nations and its ‘messengers’ will be silenced (v. 13): there will be no more threats of war, no more victory shouts, no more demands for taxes and tributes. The theme of bad news/good news continues: no news (from Assyria) is indeed good news (for Judah)! As post-resurrection believers, we have received the best news of all: the Lamb has been slain; the Lion has roared; and we now await his return!

Apply

‘Wrong will be right, when Aslan comes in sight, / At the sound of his roar, sorrows will be no more, / When he bares his teeth, winter meets its death, / And when he shakes his mane, we shall have spring again.’4

Pray

Lord Jesus, no matter what goes on around me, no matter what is happening in the world, help me to live as one knowing that you will return triumphant, with power and great glory.