Welcome to today's encouragement from Our Daily Bread.

The reading for today titled God's Justice and Grace was written by Matt Lucas.

English romantic painter John Martin is known for his apocalyptic landscapes depicting the destruction

of civilizations. In these fantastic scenes, humans are overwhelmed by the magnitude of the

destruction and powerless against the approaching doom. One painting, the fall of Nineveh,

depicts people fleeing the coming destruction of mounting waves under dark rolling clouds.

More than 2,000 years before Martin's painting, the Prophet Nahum prophesied against Nineveh for

telling its judgment.

The prophet used images of mountains quaking, hills melting, and the earth trembling

to symbolize God's wrath on those who had oppressed others for their own gain.

However, God's response to sin is not without grace. While Nahum reminds his listeners

of God's power, he notes that he is slow to anger and cares for those who trust in him.

Descriptions of judgment are hard to read, but a world where evil isn't confronted would be a terrible one.

Thankfully, the prophet doesn't end on that note. He reminds us that God desires a good and

just world, saying in Nahum chapter 1, look, they're on the mountains, the feet of one who brings

good news, who proclaims peace. That good news

is Jesus, who suffer the consequences of sin so we can have peace with God.

Today's Our Daily Bread devotional scripture reading is from Nahum chapter 1, verses 1 through 8, and verse 15.

The Lord is a jealous and avenging God. The Lord takes vengeance and is filled with wrath.

The Lord takes vengeance on his foes and vents his wrath against his

enemies. The Lord is slow to anger, but great in power. The Lord will not leave the guilty

unpunished. His way is in the whirlwind and the storm, and clouds are the dust of his feet. He rebukes the sea and dries it up.

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