“Though I have afflicted you, I will afflict you no more. And now I will break his yoke from off you and will burst your bonds apart.” (Nahum 1:12b-13)
Is this a one time promise for one population? Or is this a general way, God deals with his people?
“For the yoke of his burden, and the staff for his shoulder, the rod of his oppressor, you have broken as on the day of Midian.” (Isaiah 9:4)
“Therefore thus says the Lord GOD of hosts: “O my people, who dwell in Zion, be not afraid of the Assyrians when they strike with the rod and lift up their staff against you as the Egyptians did. For in a very little while my fury will come to an end, and my anger will be directed to their destruction. And the LORD of hosts will wield against them a whip, as when he struck Midian at the rock of Oreb. And his staff will be over the sea, and he will lift it as he did in Egypt. And in that day his burden will depart from your shoulder, and his yoke from your neck; and the yoke will be broken because of the fat.” (Isaiah 10:24-27) Scholars are not sure about the translation of that last phrase “because of the fat”, but the general idea is abundantly clear.
God is our redeemer, our savior, our rescuer, our deliverer. He also is our teacher and the one who correctes us, sometimes sternly.
What causes us such consternation is the time during our oppression, during our painful correction, during our hard training, and especially during the time when God is troubling an entire nation which we are part of, for sins we but not take part in. We think it is unfair when we are “colateral damage.”
When I am innocent but I live in a land that is guilty and is being purged of its rebellion I complain. When I am suffering because of where I live, not because of what I have done, I complain. It is hard to rest in God’s assurance that He knows my suffering and is watching over me, when it looks like my rescue is so far in the distant future. Though I trust God without reservation, patients in trial is still difficult.
But I know my Redeemer lives and will not fail in any of His promises!
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing. (James 1:2-4)
Deliverance is sure, but until then, use the opportunity to be made perfect.