forA report on the problem of Nineveh, the way God gave Nahum of Elkosh to see it: God is serious business. He won’t be trifled with. He avenges his foes. He stands up against his enemies, fierce and raging. But God doesn’t lose his temper. He’s powerful, but it’s a patient power. Still, no one gets by with anything. Sooner or later, everyone pays. Tornadoes and hurricanes are the wake of his passage, storm clouds are the dust he shakes off his feet. Nahum 1:1-3. MSG

But God doesn’t lose his temper; he is patient. God send Jonah to Nineveh to share the light, and the people respond by repenting of their sin.  But over a period of time, about 100 years, the city and the people fell back into their sinful ways.  The amazing thing is, that if the king and the people had turned from their ways, God would have again relented. (Jon 3:10) Most times the cities survive, and the nation is destroyed.  This time city and nation would be ransacked.

God loves you! In fact, he is jealous for you, not will to give you up to another.  But the blessing of God in our lives, the light and the life we live depend on us having a healthy, vibrant, living relationship with God.  We were created to be image bearers, carrying the image of God.  We were meant to live our lives worshipping God, reflecting the image and glory back to God and into all creation.

So what happens when we walk out on God?  The reality is we walk out on the blessings; we walk out on an inheritance.  We remove ourselves from the protection and provision of God.  In effect, we become an enemy of God because we set ourselves up as gods, prideful and arrogant.  We forget that he is the LORD God Almighty and that we need him more than he needs us.  Yet he holds out his hand in love.