Scripture Union Discovery 1st March 2025 Devotional Message for Saturday
Scripture Union Discovery 1st March 2025 TOPIC: Almighty And Everlasting God
Opening Prayer
Jesus, you call me to follow you, to trust you for my salvation, and to live as you lived. Empower me with your Spirit today.
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Read NAHUM 2, 3
For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.
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.”
Woe to Nineveh
3 Woe to the city of blood,
full of lies,
full of plunder,
never without victims!
2 The crack of whips,
the clatter of wheels,
galloping horses
and jolting chariots!
3 Charging cavalry,
flashing swords
and glittering spears!
Many casualties,
piles of dead,
bodies without number,
people stumbling over the corpses—
4 all because of the wanton lust of a prostitute,
alluring, the mistress of sorceries,
who enslaved nations by her prostitution
and peoples by her witchcraft.
5 “I am against you,” declares the Lord Almighty.
“I will lift your skirts over your face.
I will show the nations your nakedness
and the kingdoms your shame.
6 I will pelt you with filth,
I will treat you with contempt
and make you a spectacle.
7 All who see you will flee from you and say,
‘Nineveh is in ruins—who will mourn for her?’
Where can I find anyone to comfort you?”
8 Are you better than Thebes,
situated on the Nile,
with water around her?
The river was her defense,
the waters her wall.
9 Cush[a] and Egypt were her boundless strength;
Put and Libya were among her allies.
10 Yet she was taken captive
and went into exile.
Her infants were dashed to pieces
at every street corner.
Lots were cast for her nobles,
and all her great men were put in chains.
11 You too will become drunk;
you will go into hiding
and seek refuge from the enemy.
12 All your fortresses are like fig trees
with their first ripe fruit;
when they are shaken,
the figs fall into the mouth of the eater.
13 Look at your troops—
they are all weaklings.
The gates of your land
are wide open to your enemies;
fire has consumed the bars of your gates.
14 Draw water for the siege,
strengthen your defenses!
Work the clay,
tread the mortar,
repair the brickwork!
15 There the fire will consume you;
the sword will cut you down—
they will devour you like a swarm of locusts.
Multiply like grasshoppers,
multiply like locusts!
16 You have increased the number of your merchants
till they are more numerous than the stars in the sky,
but like locusts they strip the land
and then fly away.
17 Your guards are like locusts,
your officials like swarms of locusts
that settle in the walls on a cold day—
but when the sun appears they fly away,
and no one knows where.
18 King of Assyria, your shepherds[b] slumber;
your nobles lie down to rest.
Your people are scattered on the mountains
with no one to gather them.
19 Nothing can heal you;
your wound is fatal.
All who hear the news about you
clap their hands at your fall,
for who has not felt
your endless cruelty?
Reflect
You may be feeling drained after this week of evil versus good! The books of Jonah and Nahum are uncomfortable reading, and there’s more to come today. Praise God that he has the ultimate victory, and the power and the glory are his.
God’s message is for his people, the Israelites, but it’s about their enemies, the Assyrians. Nineveh was at the heart of the Assyrian Empire. Through Jonah, God had graciously given the Ninevites a chance to repent, and they had responded.
However, it didn’t last, and they returned to their evil ways. The subsequent years expose their shallow repentance—it’s as though they had never turned to God. Now it’s too late—they have sealed their own fate (3:19). There’s no escape from God’s judgment and their supposedly all-powerful regime is at an end, probably about 150 years after Jonah’s original prophecy. The consequences of their actions are described in graphic detail. God’s wrath, provoked by wickedness, is terrible (1:2, 6).
Through these events, the two sides of God’s nature are revealed—his care and compassion for his people (1:7; 2:2) and his hatred of evil and the subsequent consequences of wicked behavior (1:2, 3). Like Jonah, we cannot escape God, who will ultimately punish all evil (Revelation 11:18). But the good news in all this is that those of us who have responded to God’s saving grace through Jesus (John 3:16) can look forward to his return one day. Come, Lord Jesus!
Apply
Take time to reflect on the consequences for your sin, had it not been for God’s gift of his Son and your faith in him.
Closing prayer
Thank you, Lord God, for your ultimate victory over sin through Jesus and for the promise of eternal life with him forever (Revelation 21:3–5)!
Scripture Union Discovery 1st March 2025 Devotional © 2025 Scripture Union U.S.A. All rights reserved
