Nahum 1:3-5, "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 drieth 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."

In 722 B.C. King Shalmaneser V of Assyria took the ten Northern tribes of Israel captive. Nineveh, the capitol of ancient Assyria, now turned their eyes upon the Southern Kingdom of Judah.

In approximately 620 B.C. the prophesy of Nahum both proclaimed and described Nineveh's destruction. Approximately one-hundred years after God sent Jonah to Nineveh he pronounced His judgment upon it. In 612 B.C. a combined army of Babylonians and Medes captured and destroyed the city.

Nineveh had forgotten the loving-kindness of the God of Jonah and the words of their king, "Cry mightily unto God: yea, let them turn every one from his evil way, and from the violence that is in their hands. Who can tell if God will turn and repent, and turn away from his fierce anger, that we perish not?" (Jonah 3).

Nahum 1:7, "The LORD is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that trust in him."

God is merciful and slow to anger but His word also reveals that He will repay recompense to His enemies. The words of Isaiah reveal that when the enemy comes in like a flood the Spirit of the Lord will lift a standard against him. The book of Nahum prophesies a vivid description of the jealousy of God and the vengeance of the Lord.

The book of Nahum reveals that God moves on behalf of those who trust in Him. He is our ever-present help in time of trouble, a shelter from every storm. Our strong hold, a place of safety. He truly is our refuge.