Our reading this morning is from
the little prophecy of Nahum. Nahum, and we're going to be
reading from chapter one. Nahum and chapter one. So it's Joel, Amos, Obadiah,
Jonah, Micah, Nahum. You get to Habakkuk, you've gone
too far. Nahum, chapter one, and we'll
read from verse one. The Burden of Nineveh, the book
of the vision of Nahum the Elkishite. God is jealous and the Lord revengeth. The Lord revengeth and is furious. The Lord will take vengeance
on his adversaries, and he reserveth wrath for his enemies. The Lord
is slow to anger and great in power, and will not at all acquit
the wicked. The Lord hath his way in the
whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his
feet. He rebuketh the sea, and maketh
it dry, and dryeth up all the rivers. Bashan languisheth, and
Carmel, and the flower of Lebanon languisheth. The mountains quake
at him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burned at his presence,
yea, the world and all that dwell therein. Who can stand before
his indignation? and who can abide in the fierceness
of his anger? His fury is poured out like fire,
and the rocks are thrown down by him. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. But with an overrunning flood
he will make an utter end of the place thereof, and darkness
shall pursue his enemies. What do ye imagine against the
Lord? He will make an utter end. Affliction
shall not rise up the second time. For while they be folded
together as thorns, and while they are drunken as drunkards,
they shall be devoured as stubble fully dry. There is one come
out of thee that imagineth evil against the Lord, a wicked counsellor. Thus saith the Lord, though they
be quiet and likewise many, yet thus shall they be cut down when
he shall pass through. Though I have afflicted thee,
I will afflict thee no more. For now will I break his yoke
from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder. And the
Lord hath given a commandment concerning thee, that no more
of thy name be sown. Out of the house of thy gods
will I cut off the graven image and the molten image. I will
make thy grave for thou art vile. Behold, upon the mountains, the
feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace. O Judah, keep thy solemn feasts,
perform thy vows, for the wicked shall no more pass through thee.
He is utterly cut off. Amen. May God bless to us this
reading from his word. The Lord Jesus Christ once told
his disciples, let not your heart be troubled. This morning, I
have the right and the authority, nay, I have the privilege and
the pleasure to say to you with equal force, brothers and sisters
in Christ, let not your heart be troubled. Let not your heart be troubled,
says the Lord Jesus Christ. You believe in God, believe also
in me. And again, towards the end of
John chapter 14 and verse 27, he says, Peace I leave with you. My peace I give unto you. Not as the world giveth, give
I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled,
neither let it be afraid. This morning I want to think
with you for a little while about the comfort that we have from
the Lord Jesus Christ and as it were to apply to your thoughts
and to your mind and to your heart and to your soul something
of the confidence that you can have in the promises of our loving
God and Saviour, Jesus Christ. The Lord did not say without
good cause, let not your heart be troubled, for he knows that
troubles come into the life's experience of his people. Indeed, you may say, there is
so much to make me afraid, There is so much to make me anxious,
so many troubling things in this world, in this life, even in
this heart of mine and in my thoughts. And it is true, even
the Lord's people, we are a muddle of doubts and troubles, of fears
and unbelief. So much so that sometimes we
begin to wonder if we can even be amongst those to whom this
piece of which Christ speaks is given. When he says to his
people, peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, we
think, is it possible that I am a possessor of this peace when
I feel so troubled in my heart, when I feel so perplexed in my
mind, when I am so anxious in the very depths of my being about
all the things that are going on around about me? We wonder if we can actually
be numbered amongst the Lord's people, if we do actually believe
in God. If we truly believed, would life
be so hard and so difficult? Would our courage be so stretched
out? our fear so pervasive and stumbling
to our hearts. The Lord says, don't. He says,
don't worry. He says, don't let your heart
be troubled. The Lord says, don't. And we
do. The Lord says, peace. The Lord
says to his people, peace, be still. And we worry. The Lord says, believe. And we,
his people, against our own will, find that we are full of doubts
and anxieties. This morning I trust that I have
a message for those who mourn in Zion. I have a message for
the poor and the troubled in spirit. This morning I trust
that I have something to say to you who are the meek of the
earth, who find themselves recoiling in the presence and under the
threats of that strong man armed that comes so often against us. That strong man armed that speaks
to us of the world's values, that assails our own hearts,
that challenges us in the depths of our being. I trust that the
Lord will enable us together to think about better things
than our own fears and to look beyond our immediate circumstances
to see he who declares in the quietness of his voice, peace
I give to you. Here is my message for your heart's
little flock. you who are a holy nation, you
who are declared by God's own apostles to be a royal priesthood,
I say with Deborah and Barat, hear, O ye kings, give ear, O
ye princes, even I will sing unto the Lord, I will sing praise
to the Lord God of Israel. And what do I have to sing this
morning? What is this song that I sing? We read here in the closing verses
of Nahum about one who comes upon the mountains bringing good
tidings and publishing peace. The preachers of God, the apostles
of God, those messengers that carry the message of the gospel
are as those who come upon the mountains and whose feet bring
good tidings of great joy, who publish peace in the hearts of
the Lord's people. What then shall I sing? I shall
sing the song of the redeemed. I shall say the voice of joy
and the voice of gladness be unto you. In Nahum chapter 1
and verse 7, you will find the verse that I want to dwell upon
for a little while today. Nahum chapter 1 verse 7. And if I may say, here I have
a title. It is a word for the day of trouble. A word for the day of trouble. A word to the hearts of the Lord's
people as they face the troubles of their life. The Lord is good,
says Nahum in verse seven. The Lord is good, a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. The Lord is good. What a simple statement that
is, and yet what a profound truth it contains. Pause with me for
a moment, my friends, and just think in the quietness of your
own hearts and minds about the wonder of that simple statement,
the Lord is good. When I was a boy and when I was
a child going to school, we used to have to learn a foreign language
and the teacher would say, listen and repeat. Listen and repeat. Well, here's a word to use well
this morning. Listen and repeat. Listen to the word of God. The
Lord is good. and repeat it in your hearts. Repeat it to your mind as you
feel the weight of the challenges of your days. Repeat it in those
moments when anxiety creeps up upon you. Repeat it in your own
heart when temptation comes and unbelief rises. The Lord is good. The Lord is good, says the psalmist
in Psalm 100 and verse 5. The Lord is good, says the psalmist,
for his mercy is everlasting. His truth endureth to all generations. The Lord is good, says the prophet,
for, in Jeremiah 33, verse 11, his mercy endureth forever. And here, Nahum tells us, the
Lord is good. He is a stronghold in the day
of trouble, and he knoweth them that trust in him. I want to
think with you for a few moments here about the goodness of the
Lord. Our thoughts this morning are
going to be very straightforward. There will be nothing too challenging
in the things that we have to say and yet I trust that God
the Holy Spirit will apply these great truths to our understanding
that we may rejoice in them and taste something of the peace,
the peace that passeth understanding that the Lord is able to give
to his people. The Lord is good. And first of
all, I want to think about this goodness of the Lord, because
the Lord is good in himself. The Lord is good in himself.
It is one of these essential attributes of the God and indeed
of the Godhead. God the Father is good, God the
Son is good and God the Holy Spirit is good. The goodness of God pervades
all that he does. Asaph in Psalm 73 in verse 1
says, truly God is good to Israel. God is good to his people. God is good as he loves his people
and sends out his grace and his mercy to his people so that grace
comes under the auspices of the goodness of God. As he looks
upon us and smiles in his pity and his mercy, he looks upon
us with goodness. He is a good God. Truly, says Asaph, he is good
God. And Paul in the New Testament
says that there is a richness in the goodness of God. There is great bounty, there
is great depth, there is great width, there is great profound
experiences to be had of the goodness of God as we draw near
to him. And we should look often for
that goodness, that goodness which comes to us in the blessings
of his grace and mercy. Day by day we experience the
goodness of the Lord because he is good and all he does for
us and all he does to us and all he says to us reflects the
goodness of our God to his people. He is good in his will towards
his people. He says, I will surely do thee
good. I will surely do thee good. And he is good not only in his
will, but he is good in his purposes. He is good in all he does. There is a perfection in all
his ways. There is a comprehensiveness
and a completeness. The goodness of God is perfect
towards his people. He has a good will towards his
people. He does good for his people. And he does good in the timing
in which he brings the blessings of his heart to us. He is good
to us in that timing. The New Testament tells us, when
it pleased the Lord. Paul says, when it pleased the
Lord. Sometimes we need to just pause
in the reflections of the troubles of our life's experience and
say to ourselves that this pleases the Lord. And there is a perfection,
not only in his will and in his deeds, but in the timing of the
Lord's goodness to us. Undoubtedly, we would hurry the
Lord along. Undoubtedly, we would say, enough
Lord. It's come to an end. It's come
to the conclusion. Now is the time to lift this
trial. Now is the time to stop this
temptation. Now is the time to give me peace. Now is the time to give me ease. Now is the time to withdraw thy
hand of chastisements. And it may well be that in the
heart of our lives, in the trials of our day, in the problems of
our experience, that we say, enough, Lord. I've had enough. I want no more of this. And yet,
the testimony stands true. Surely the Lord is good to his
people. Surely the Lord is good to Israel. Truly God is good and there is
a richness in his goodness which extends both to his will, to
his actions and to the timing of his dealings with us. Philippians chapter 2 and verse
13 says, for it is God which worketh in you both to will and
to do of his good pleasure. The Lord is good in himself and
he is good in all he says. The Lord hath spoken good concerning
Israel. The Lord has spoken good concerning
the people of his choice, those that he has placed his love upon,
those elect. those people for whom the Lord
Jesus Christ died, he speaks good news to them. For what is
the gospel but good news? It is good news that there is
salvation to be found in the Lord Jesus Christ. It is good
news that there is power in the blood to cleanse the conscience,
to take away the sin, to remove that vile stain, and that God
holds nothing against his people, but out of goodness and love
and grace and mercy bestows blessings multiplied upon them every one. The angel declared when the Lord
Jesus Christ came, peace upon earth. Real peace, genuine peace,
true, deep peace. Not the peace amongst the nations
that the men and women of the world seek for and never find,
but peace in the souls of sinners. Not even peace of mind, not peace
of heart, but a peace that passeth understanding. This is verily
the peace of faith. It is true that we often do not
understand the reason for the things that happen in our life. We think to ourselves, I can't
comprehend why the Lord has to deal with me in this way. I can't
understand why these trials come, why this persecution is so much
a part and a portion of my earthly experience. I can't understand
why there is so much trouble in the world and it impinges
so much upon the church and upon his people and upon his little
flock. Why does the Lord simply not
hedge us in and protect us from all these things? but this is
a peace which passeth our understanding. It transcends our logic. We cannot grasp the significance
of these trials that come because we cannot understand that we
must, through much tribulation, enter into the kingdom of God. The Lord has designed it this
way that we might learn of Him and trust him more and have exercise
for our faith in our life's experiences. The Lord is good. The Lord is
good in himself. The Lord is good in all that
he says to his people as he brings the gospel to their ears and
to their heart. The Lord is good in all he gives. Our Lord knows how to give good
gifts. In Jeremiah 33 in verse 14, we
read there, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I
will perform that good thing which I have promised unto the
house of Israel and to the house of Judah. The days come, saith
the Lord, that I will perform that good thing which I have
promised. And we can take that both as
being a statement of the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, the
promised Messiah, and also all of those blessings that flow
to his people. The Lord's promises are certain
and sure. Now it may well be that in our
perception, in our understanding, these things could happen more
quickly. These blessings could come more speedily. But the Lord's
timing is perfect and he will perform that good thing which
he has promised and the house of Israel will stand amazed both
at the wonder of his goodness and at the amazing timing in
which that good is revealed. I will perform that good thing
which I have promised. Do you hear that, friends? Do
you hear that this morning? Christ is indeed come. Salvation
is amongst God's people. Lo, I am with you always, even
unto the end of the world. Amen. Do you know that that word
Amen means Jesus? It means Christ? It is a name
that the Lord takes to himself in the book of Revelation. He
calls himself the Amen. And so here is a promise from
the Lord. He says, I will perform that
good thing which I have promised. And the Lord Jesus Christ says,
lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Amen. It's like a signature at the
bottom of a contract. It's like a signature at the
bottom of a letter. He says, I am with you and look,
here is my mark. Here is my signature. Here is
the evidence of the promise. The Lord is good. The Lord is good. but there's
more in this statement of Nathan the prophet. He says, the Lord
is good, and he continues, the Lord is a stronghold in the day
of trouble. This, I think, tells us several
things. And if I may, I'm going to start
at the end of this little phrase. The Lord is a stronghold in the
day of trouble. I start at the end because so
very often it is in our troubles that we find our mind takes the
initiative. It's our troubles that first
dawn upon us. It's our troubles that take up
our thoughts. Our attention is arrested by
our troubles. But look at what the Lord says,
that the people of God shall know a day of trouble. there will be a time of trouble
because the Lord shows that he is a stronghold in the day of
trouble. There is a portion that falls
to the church, a portion that falls to the Lord's people of
trouble in this life. Job chapter 5 verse 7, the man of great patience declares,
yet man is born unto trouble as the sparks fly upward. Those of us who have spent any
time camping and have had the opportunity to sit around a campfire
will know certainly how the sparks fly upward. So is trouble a portion
in the lives of God's people. We do not deny the troubles of
the Lord's people because we see them both all around us in
the lives of the church and in our own life also. There are troubles that we encounter. And perhaps some of you this
morning are going through times of trouble. Perhaps you're feeling
the weight of the challenges that the Lord has brought against
you. Perhaps this is your day of trouble. And perhaps it seems as if these
troubles compound one upon another. and there is a weightiness in
them which is heavy upon our shoulders and seems to bring
us down into that place of trial and temptation and depression. But let us look at what the Lord
says. He does not deny either that
there is a day of troubles but our troubles though they are
real are nevertheless to be seasoned by our confidence in the Lord
who is good. Note this, our troubles will
not always beset us. The Lord says he is a stronghold
in the day of trouble, and a day is a finite period of time. There is a passing of a day. The day begins, it progresses
and it draws to a conclusion. The sun rises and it sets and
there will be a sunset on the day of our trouble. They are but for a day, a passing
day. is soon over. What did we say
a few moments ago? We would hurry the Lord, but
we can hurry, we can no more hurry the Lord with the, in a
sense of the troubles that we face than we can hurry the hours
of the day. The sun moves, the earth moves
around the sun. The earth spins and as the days
of our year and the days of our life unfold, we cannot hurry
them on. They take that time that the
Lord has ordained and his timings are perfect. Romans 8 verse 18
says, I reckon that the suffering of this present time are not
worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed
in us. Let us think then not about the
day of trouble which is passing, but the promise of help that
the Lord provides to his people in the day of trouble. For he
says, the Lord, the Lord who is good, is a stronghold. The Lord is a stronghold in the
day of trouble. Not only are our troubles merely
for a day, not only are they short-lived and soon to be over,
but in that day of trouble, we have an anchor. We have a strong
hold. Christ is our solid rock. Christ is our firm foundation. Christ is our castle on a hill. Notice this, please notice this. The Lord is a stronghold in the
day of trouble. He speaks there about the present
tense. And this surely is a comfort
and an encouragement to the Lord's people. The Lord doesn't say
I will be. The Lord doesn't say I hope to
be, I may be, I should be. He says I am. The Lord is a stronghold
in the day of trouble. When we need him, he is there. When that grace is required,
it is supplied. At the point of our lowest ebb,
he is there and his hands undergird us. They uphold us, they sustain
us. That present tense means that
it is a proven experience. A hold, a hold is a place of
protection. We speak about the ship's hold
where things are stored and protected against the entrance of the seawater
to destroy them. Or perhaps we would think about
a hold as being a bag and most of us will have a hold all in
our cupboards and in our homes somewhere. The Lord Jesus Christ
describes himself as a stronghold. Think of that as the hold of
the ship. Think of it as a hold all. The Lord Jesus Christ, he describes
himself as a stronghold. His strength is tested and proved
in the experience of our troubles. He is a comfort. He is a defence. He is a shield. He protects his
people in their time of need and yet he does so graciously,
sympathetically, feelingly. The Lord Jesus Christ enters
into our experiences with us. The Lord says he is a comfort
to his people. and he is a comfort that consoles
us through the troubles that we have. He is with us in the
day of trouble and he is with us as a comfort, as a stronghold
to sustain and console his people. He is touched, says the Apostle,
with the feeling of our infirmities. Remember this, dear friends,
this morning. The Lord Jesus Christ has walked
this way before us. No matter what the troubles are
that we are called to bear, the Lord has been there before us
and experienced these things as well. Paul says that we have
the fellowship of his suffering. and he goes on, the afflictions
of Christ in my flesh. Peter speaks about the Lord's
people as partakers of Christ's suffering. The suffering that
we are called to undergo, that we are called to bear in this
life is merely reflection of the fact that the Lord Jesus
Christ has blazed a trail, the Lord Jesus Christ has walked
this path, this is a road that is known to him and therefore
he is able to enter empathetically and sympathetically, feelingly
into the trials of our day of trouble. The Lord not only is
a consoling comfort to his people, but he is a defence and a dependable
defence. As I was thinking about the sermon
this morning, my mind was drawn to something that I heard once
from history, from that period of European history between the
First World War and the Second World War, and perhaps you know
a little bit about this, but there was something built by
France called the Maginot Line. The Maginot Line was a line of
defensive fortifications built by the French government before
the Second World War. It was designed to protect France
against the German military power. and the idea, the logic, and
it was applauded. It was received, both the idea
and the execution of the idea, the building of the wall, the
Maginot Line, this line of defensive fortifications, the building
of it was received enthusiastically by the French people and the
French military. because it was deemed that it
would hold back the German troops. But was it a stronghold? Let me tell you what happened. The Germans came to it and they
simply drove their vehicles around about it. There was this great
wall, this great fortification established and built and designed
in order to defend the people of France and their enemies simply
rolled up and rolled around it and invaded their country anyway. But the Lord Jesus Christ is
a dependable defence. In the day of trouble his promises
are sure His love is unbreachable His power is unassailable The
Maginot Line let the people of France down. The Lord Jesus Christ
will never let his people down. In Psalm 23, verse 4, we read,
Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I will fear no evil, for thou art with me. Thy rod and thy
staff, they comfort me. The Lord Jesus Christ is a consoling
comfort. He is a dependable defense. and he is a sovereign shield. The Lord's told Abraham, I am
thy shield. And once again, note the present
tense, not I will be, but I am. The Lord's people draw the comfort
from these great promises, these great truths in the midst of
their trials. Let it be so. The power is the
Lord's. You who are fearful, you who
doubt, you who are anxious, you who are undergoing your day of
trouble right now, the strength is His. He is the shield. He is the defence. He is the
comforter of His people. When I am weak, says the Apostle,
then I am strong. Now hear this, friends this morning. Paul says in 2 Corinthians chapter
12, verse 10, therefore I take pleasure in infirmities. Do you hear that? I take pleasure
in infirmities. in reproaches, in necessities,
in persecutions, in distresses for Christ's sake. For when I
am weak, then am I strong. Is that possible? How is that
possible? How is it possible that in our
weakness we draw strength and succour and help from the Lord? How is it possible that we can
have pleasure in our infirmities and in our reproaches and in
our persecutions? How is it possible that these
things are true? because he tells us, and he said
unto me, my grace is sufficient for thee. For my strength is
made perfect in weakness. Most gladly, therefore, will
I rather glory in my infirmities that the power of Christ may
rest upon me. Our confidence is not never can
be in our strength but in him and in his. The Lord is our stronghold
in the day of trouble. He is able to keep. Language
is a wonderful thing. He is able to keep. Do you know what a is a keep
in a castle, is a fortified tower. Built within the castle would
be that tower. During the Middle Ages, the nobility
in Europe would protect their most cherished loved ones in
the keep of the castle. And even if the castle were overrun,
the keep would keep their loved ones safe, that would keep their
enemies out. And the enemy would attack the
castle, but even if the walls of the castle fell, the keep
would be secure. It would prove to be the strongest
of the strongholds. In Jude 1, verse 24, we read
there, Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and
to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with
exceeding joy, the Lord is able to keep his people. Finally,
I want you to note this. The Lord is good. The Lord is
a stronghold in the day of trouble. And the Lord knoweth them that
trust in him. He knoweth them that trust in
him. He knoweth. He knoweth because
he foreknows. He knoweth because he loves his
people. He knows their names. The Lord
knoweth them that are his. These are the people that have
been given to him. These are the people that have
been secured by him. These are the people that are
loved before time, delivered out from under the bondage of
sin, protected by the blood of Jesus Christ and preserved through
his grace for all the blessings that he has stored up for them. Friends, I don't know how my
troubles will pass. I don't know how my fears will
subside. I don't know how my needs will
be met. I do know that I am often hungry,
thirsty, weary, cold, tried, tempted, and often despondent
and distressed in this world. And like the Apostle Paul, 2
Corinthians chapter 11, we might say, in journeyings often, in
perils of water, in perils of robbers, in perils by mine own
countrymen, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city,
in perils in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils
among false brethren. in weariness and painfulness,
in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often,
in cold and nakedness. Beside those things that are
without, that which cometh upon me daily, the care of all the
churches. I don't know how my troubles
will pass, but I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that
he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against
that day. The hymn writer William Young
Fullerton wrote, I cannot tell how silently he suffered, as
with his peace he graced this place of tears, or how his heart
upon the cross was broken, the crown of pain to three and thirty
years. But this I know, he heals the
brokenhearted, and stays our sin, and calms our lurking fear,
and lifts the burden from the heavy laden, For yet the Saviour,
Saviour of the world, is here. The Lord is good. The Lord is
a stronghold in the day of trouble. The Lord knoweth them that trust
in him. Psalmist says in Psalm 34 verse
8, Friends, this morning we have a right to go to the Lord We trust Him. We trust His promises. We have tasted something of that
goodness, and that goodness and that grace and that mercy endureth
forever. Let us go to Him with our trials. Let us go to Him with our troubles. Let us go to Him who is good
to His people, who is a stronghold in the day of trouble, for He
knows us. and he has called us to trust
in him. May we do so for his name's sake. Amen.