good

This week we begin worship with:

Nahum 1:6-7

Who can stand before his indignation?

    Who can endure the heat of his anger?

His wrath is poured out like fire,

    and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.

The LORD is good,

    a stronghold in the day of trouble;

he knows those who take refuge in him.

If God was not scary, He could not protect us.  This is true of husbands, police officers, soldiers, and even mothers with a raised flip-flop.  It is the next verse that makes all the difference.  

"The LORD is good . . ."

Any human institution can become corrupt and quickly turn from protection to oppression.  But God is good (ṭôḇ).  This is not His purity of holiness.  This is God's benevolent character.  

But, if a parent does not know that a child has a fever, all their other efforts to care for the child will not help.

". . . he knows those who take refuge in him."

God knows us deeper than we know ourselves.

Psalm 139:1

O Lord, you have searched me and known me! 

And He wants what would be best for us.