(June 27, 2025) Brian Bell shares some encouraging points…

In this short meditation we will consider some thoughts from Nahum 1:7NLT— ‘The Lord is good, He is a strong refuge when trouble comes. And He knows everyone who trusts in Him.’ 

• The meaning of the name Nahum has the sense of ‘consolation’ or ‘consoler’… and surely in our present day as much as when Nahum spoke these words, we are still in need of a word of consolation from someone the Lord uses to bring His word as a consoler.

A Point of Reflection
‘The Lord is good.’
For those of us who have been parents, now grandparents, perhaps like me you may have said to the children ‘Now be a good boy (girl).’ We say that, because we know children— and adults to be honest— are not naturally good… we have to work at it! But that is not the case with the phrase The Lord is Good… which is a divine attribute.

This phrase is not simply a reflection of how God has been good in specific ways in the past, it is also a present tense. God has and always will be good in His nature, just in the same way we say, ‘God is love.’

Let me share three examples of God’s goodness—
(i) God is good in creation
Genises 3:1 which tells us God saw everything He had created and described it as being ‘very good.’ This world and the universe in which it is placed was not a random happening, it was a divine act of creation.

(ii) God is good in prepartion
Jeremiah 29:11 in which the Lord tells His people in exile the plans He has for them are ‘for good.’ We can be sure this is also true for us as God’s children in this generation.

(iii) God is good in salvation
Romans 2:4 tells us the goodness of God is designed to lead us to repentance. His gift of salvation is for those of us who realise that before a Holy God we are sinners by nature, we are all wrong and we need to be made right. We cannot achieve God’s standard by our own righteousness, it is a work of grace through faith (taking God at His word) and God imputes to us a righteousness which was purchased for us when the Lord Jesus shed His blood on Calvary to reconcile us to God.

A Place of Refuge
‘He is a strong refuge when trouble comes.’
Nahum’s message was for Nineveh (as was Jonah’s), a very well-constructed and fortified city with huge walls.

In my homeland I live about five miles from a castle which was first built about 1,000 years ago. In times past it became a refuge for the people who sought shelter within its solid walls.

This phrase reminds me of at least two things which are certain— trouble will come— but as Christian believers we have a strong refuge! Jesus spoke to His disciples along similar lines when He said to them ‘… in the world you will have trouble but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world’ (John 16:33).

As Christian believers we can take refuge in the faithfulness of God’s promises and there may be times when those promises are refreshed as we read scripture, attend a service in person or by broadcast, or a situation in which God undertakes or intervenes on our behalf.

A People of Rest
‘And He knows everyone who trusts in Him.’
My wife Eveline and I have a fairly large family circle, many friends and other acquaintances. To be honest, I could not say that I would remember every name especially those who we do not see regularly, but God is not limited in that way.

The psalmist reminds us that God calls all the stars by name (Psalm 147:4)! The Lord Jesus said that He knows all His sheep by name (John 10:14). That word ‘knows’ can be expressed as ‘cherishes’— what do we do with our most cherished possessions? We take care of them.

Jesus knows those of His children who struggle or stray and He will go searching for those who wander from the fold.

• Christian believers will never find complete rest in this world and the weak bodies of flesh in which we live. Jesus is preparing a place of rest and will one day take us to be with Him!

A Prayer of Rejoicing
Gracious God, thank you caring for me, thank you that when I face difficulties or sickness in life that I can take refuge in your precious eternal promises and the consolation they can bring. Forgive me for the times I rely too much on my own strength.

Help me to remember that in this troubled, broken world, when tragedies and atrocities touch may touch my life or the lives of so many, you are preparing a place of eternal rest for all those from every nation who trust in you. Help me to keep my eyes of faith looking forward, trusting in you until the day when you take us or call us to our heavenly home. I pray this in Jesus’ name.

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Brian Bell is a diaconate member, Christ Church (Congregational) Abbots Cross, Northern Ireland. Brian describes himself as ‘grateful for the privilege and opportunity given me to serve my Lord.’
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