Jealous...Wrathful...Rage...Vengeance. These words sounds like they are describing a truly awful person, someone that good Christians should avoid (or perhaps witness to!) Yet the Old Testament prophet Nahum applies them to God, and he expects that we should view such typically negative terms positively!
At the beginning of his short book, Nahum writes, "A jealous and avenging God is the Lord, the Lord is avenging and wrathful; the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries and rages against his enemies" (vs. 2). The next several verses go on to describe the Lord's indignation and the heat of his anger.
How can this be? Why would it be a good thing to see God as jealous or wrathful?
It's certainly a negative to be on the receiving end of God's anger and vengeance. But isn't that the flip side of His mercy and grace? If God is punishing one party, He is defending another. I see in these verses God as a protector avenging his wronged spouse; an advocate for those who have been oppressed and treated unjustly; one who is bringing balance back by delivering punishment upon those who have acted cruelly.
Is there ever a place for righteous anger? Is there ever a time for divine punishment? If there is (and I believe there is), can't we trust God to know when to dispense it in His wisdom and in His grace? The Lord who created all things, including these emotions and acts that we usually view as negative, knows when to implement them appropriately.
So it is that Nahum writes to Judah, "And now I will break off his yoke from you and snap the bonds that bind you" (vs. 13). Destruction for Assyria (the evil empire that smashed the northern kingdom of Israel) means peace for Judah (vs. 15). God has a purpose and a plan, but it isn't always peaches and cream. Sometimes God's justice means that emotions like wrath and jealousy have their day in the sun, too.
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