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Living Waters Universal Church, KOERAT Strees, Humansdorp (2026)

23/07/2025

The Lord Silences
Nahum 2:11–13

Do you know one of those people who can whistle loud enough to rise above the din of a crowd and command everyone’s attention? God doesn’t whistle in today’s passage, but He does command the silence of the Assyrian messengers as He demonstrates His awesome sovereignty over all.

In verse 11 the prophet asks, “Where now is the lions’ den, the place where they fed their young?” He goes on in verse 12 to help us understand the significance of his question: “The lion killed enough for his cubs and strangled the prey for his mate, filling his lairs with the kill and his dens with the prey.” This lions’ den was a place of safety and refuge for the lion, his mate, and his cubs. It’s where he would bring back the prey he’d killed so that his lion family could feast on the carcasses.

Lions in the ancient Near East, just like today, were majestic and feared predators, the “king of the jungle,” because of their might and hunting abilities. The psalmist likens his enemies to lions that would “tear me apart” (Ps. 7:2); the apostle Peter compares the devil to “a roaring lion looking for someone to devour” (1 Peter 5:8); and John the Revelator tells of his conversation with “one of the elders,” who proclaimed that “the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed” (Rev. 5:5).

The Lord who rules in Revelation promises here in Nahum that He will “devour your young lions”—the powerful warriors of Assyria—and states, “The voices of your messengers will no longer be heard” (v. 13). Nothing can stand against the might of the Lord—not even the strongest foes you can imagine. He alone is sovereign, He alone is God. He alone silences all His enemies. What a God!

Food for thought:
How does God’s sovereign power bring you comfort? How should we respond to a God so powerful and majestic?

Prayer:
Ruler of the world, it’s a comfort to know that You, the Lion of Judah, are mighty to save, and You will silence all Your enemies. Thank You for the consolation and comfort only You can give.
Amen 🙏🏼

21/07/2025

The Lord Restores
Nahum 2:1–10

God’s people in the Old Testament were fickle—sometimes following the Lord faithfully and experiencing His blessing and sometimes turning from Him and experiencing His discipline. The same as us, really. But God is never fickle—He always keeps His covenant and always restores His people. In todays’ passage we read God’s promise to “restore the splendor of Jacob like the splendor of Israel,” even “though destroyers have laid them waste and have ruined their vines” (v. 2).

The passage begins with a warning against the Assyrian nation, who had oppressed God’s people and conquered the nation of Israel in 722 BC. Nahum proclaims that “an attacker advances against you, Nineveh” and that they should “brace yourselves [and] marshal your strength” (v. 1). Despite the call to prepare for battle, Assyria is already as good as defeated, for even though “Nineveh summons her picked troops,” “they stumble on their way” (v. 5). The Lord promises that the capital city of Nineveh—and with it the nation of Assyria—will fall: “The river gates are thrown open and the palace collapses” (v. 6). And just as the Assyrians had exiled the Israelites—and many nations throughout the ancient world—“Nineveh will be exiled and carried away” (v. 7). Once Assyria had plundered many nations, but now the Lord commands, “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” He declares: “Hearts melt, knees give way, bodies tremble, every face grows pale” (v. 10).

Though this passage may be difficult to read because of its depictions of God’s judgment and wrath, it clearly portrays God’s justice and righteousness. As Nahum said in chapter 1, “the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished” (Nah. 1:3). Likewise, today’s passage shows that God is faithful to His covenant and that He is sovereign over all things—even the most powerful nations in the world.

Food for thought:
How does God’s justice against evil make you feel? What about His promise to restore His people?

Prayer:
Jesus, thank You for the promise to restore what has been lost. Thank You for Your promise of rest for all those who trust in You. By Your Spirit, soften our hearts that we may hear Your voice, turn to You, and worship You alone. Amen 🙏🏼

19/07/2025

The Lord Is Good
Nahum 1:7–11

In the church I grew up the pastor would often say, “God is good!” Then the church would respond with, “All the time!” We’d repeat it back and forth several times, drilling into our hearts the truth of God’s goodness at all times.

Nahum gives a similar refrain that offers comfort—in good times and bad—to all who trust in the Lord: “The LORD is good, a refuge in times of trouble” (v. 7). Remember that the prophet makes this statement in the midst of a stark word of judgment against the people of Nineveh. In fact, Nahum continues his warning to Nineveh in verses 7–8: “He [the LORD] cares for those who trust in him, but with an overwhelming flood he will make an end of Nineveh; he will pursue his foes into the realm of darkness.”

We have very little trouble with Nahum’s statements about God’s goodness, His care “for those who trust in him” (v. 7), or His being a “refuge in times of trouble” (v. 7). However, we often struggle to understand that God’s goodness also encompasses His fierce judgment upon evil. But Nahum’s statements of God’s judgment are entirely consistent with his statements about God’s goodness. To put it another way, God’s judgment of sin and His promise to “pursue his foes into the realm of darkness” are because of His goodness. Good parents do not allow their children to harm others and rebel against them with no thought of consequences. No! Good parents discipline their children because they love them and because they are good.

As we think of God’s judgment against sin and His care for those who trust in Him, let’s take care to see both of these ways of dealing with people as rooted in God’s character as good, loving, and kind.

Food for thought:
Have you struggled to understand how a good God could judge sin? Consider the reverse: Would a good God allow evil free reign?

Prayer:
Thank you, our heavenly Father, for all your goodness and mercy.
Amen 🙏🏼

18/07/2025

A Jealous God
Nahum 1:1–6

Nahum was the prophet Jonah always wished he could be! Jonah and Nahum both addressed the Ninevites, but the tone and outcome of each are radically different. Remember that the Ninevites miraculously repented at the reluctant Jonah’s meager five-word sermon. However, when we get to Nahum it is clear that their repentance was relatively short-lived—not unlike the Israelites’ themselves!

The book of Nahum begins by introducing the audience (Nineveh) and the prophet (Nahum). We know very little about this prophet other than that his name means “comfort” and he likely ministered during the fifty-year period from the fall of Thebes (663 BC) to the fall of Nineveh (612 BC).

Nahum’s sermon begins by referencing part of Exodus 34:6–7, which Jonah also quoted as his reasoning for not wanting to preach to Nineveh (see Jonah 4:2). Whereas Jonah focused on the Lord’s compassion, Nahum focuses on God’s vengeance and wrath: “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” (v. 2). Nahum does recognize God’s patience, stating that “the LORD is slow to anger but great in power” and reminding his audience that “the LORD will not leave the guilty unpunished” (v. 3). Nahum highlights God’s mysterious, awesome nature: “[H]is way is in the whirlwind and the storm” (v. 3), as well as His power over all things, including rivers, the sea, mountains, and even the entire earth (vv. 4–5).

Nahum then poses a few questions: “Who can withstand his indignation? Who can endure his fierce anger?” (v. 6). The questions are rhetorical, the answer is no one! In the presence of God, the only option is to repent—or face His judgment.

Food for thought:
How do you feel about Nahum’s depiction of God’s awesome power and fierce anger? Does this passage frighten you or give you hope in God’s justice?

Prayer:
Heavenly Father, may we heed the words of Nahum, another “minor” prophet with a major message. Increase our knowledge of Your perfect character as a God of both mercy and wrath.
Amen 🙏🏼

17/07/2025

The Lord’s Compassion
Jonah 4:9–11

I’m the type of person who wants a movie to wrap up all the loose ends before it’s over. I especially love when a movie tells you what happened to the characters after the movie. Jonah doesn’t give us an ending like that, though. Rather than tying together the loose threads and telling us what becomes of Jonah, the book ends without any real resolution.

In verse 9 the Lord confronts Jonah over his anger about the plant (see July 15): “Is it right for you to be angry about the plant?” To which Jonah—for the third time in the book—says he’d rather be dead than live: “It is [right]…And I’m so angry I wish I were dead” (v. 9). At this point the Lord responds with one of the most haunting statements in Scripture, a statement we would do well to meditate upon when we find ourselves angry or frustrated about how the Lord works and what He chooses to do. “The LORD said, ‘You have been concerned about this plant, though you did not tend it or make it grow. It sprang up overnight and died overnight. And should I not have concern for the great city of Nineveh, in which there are more than a hundred and twenty thousand people who cannot tell their right hand from their left—and also many animals?’”

God could have communicated His point in a million different ways, but He chose to put Jonah’s concern for a measly plant next to His own concern for an entire city and all the animals within it. In this framing, Jonah’s anger would be laughable were it not so tragic. And that’s how the book ends, with an implicit invitation to put ourselves in Jonah’s shoes.

Food for thought:
Can you relate to Jonah? How would you respond to the Lord’s final question?

Prayer:
As we complete our study of Jonah, we thank You, Father, for this reluctant prophet whose story taught us important faith lessons. You are a faithful God; Your “compassions never fail. They are new every morning” (Lam. 3:22–23). Amen 🙏🏼

16/07/2025

The Lord Provides (Again!)
Jonah 4:5–8

There’s nothing better than a spot of shade in the middle of a scorching summer day. (Well, except air conditioning!) The tree’s leaves protect your eyes from the sun’s bright rays; the temperature noticeably drops. You relax a bit, sigh, and are grateful. That’s the sort of respite Jonah experienced.

Jonah was no doubt tired from his experience at sea, the journey in the fish’s belly, his sermon to Nineveh, and then his flashing anger at God’s compassion (4:1–4). The prophet went “out and sat down at a place east of the city. There he made himself a shelter, sat in its shade and waited to see what would happen to the city” (v. 5). Perhaps even now Jonah held out some hope that God would rain down fire and brimstone—the Bible doesn’t tell us. But it does tell us that God had compassion on Jonah, the reluctant and now angry prophet. Rather than letting the sun beat down on Jonah all afternoon, God “provided a leafy plant and made it grow up over Jonah to give shade for his head to ease his discomfort” (v. 6). Predictably at this point in the story, “Jonah was very happy about the plant” (v. 6).

Jonah’s happiness turned out to be short-lived, because the Lord intends to use the plant as an object lesson. In language reminiscent of chapter 1—when God used the sea and a giant fish to reach Jonah— God “provided a worm” to destroy the plant, and then He “provided a scorching east wind.” Finally, “the sun blazed on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint” (v. 8). Again, we read that Jonah longed for death: “It would be better for me to die than to live” (v. 8). It is easy to condemn Jonah at this point, but first we should examine our own hearts.

Food for thought:
Why do you think Jonah was so concerned about his own comfort? What is God trying to teach Jonah—and us?

Prayer:
Dear God, so often we desire comfort, seeking it in circumstances or objects instead of Your presence. We pray that You will reveal to us the things in our lives—the equivalent of Jonah’s leafy tree—that distract us from You. Amen 🙏🏼

15/07/2025

Jonah Becomes Angry
Jonah 4:1–4

It is easy to be thankful for God’s love and patience with us, but how do we feel when God extends that same long-suffering compassion to our enemies? As Jonah thought about God’s grace to the people of Nineveh, he became angry. The Lord’s response to their repentance, which was completely consistent with His character, “seemed very wrong” to Jonah (v. 1). Jonah became so angry, in fact, that he declared “it is better for me to die than to live” (v. 4).

The Lord had heard Nineveh’s repentance and “did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (Jonah 3:10). This made Jonah angry—“this seemed very wrong, and he became angry” (v. 1). The prophet clearly knew that God was “a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity” (v. 2). In fact, Jonah was quoting the Lord’s own words back to Him, words first spoken to Moses in Exodus 34:6–8, just after the Lord relented from destroying the Israelites. You read that right! God spoke these same words to Moses after the golden calf incident (Exodus 32), when the people of Israel cast an idol to worship, while Moses was receiving the Law atop Mount Sinai.

Think about that. Jonah knew that God showed compassion to Israel after they committed gross idolatry and “indulge[d] in revelry” (Ex. 32:2–5). Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh because he didn’t want God to show that same compassion to the Ninevites. Put another way, Jonah was pleased to accept God’s mercy for himself and his own people, but he loathed the thought of God also showing kindness to people outside of Jonah’s group. Jonah’s theology only went skin deep.

Food for thought:
What about you? Is your theology only skin deep? Or do you rejoice when God shows His kindness to all people, regardless of their ethnicity, nationality, social status, and the like?

Prayer:
Lord, I confess that at times, like Jonah, I don’t rejoice in Your kindness to others. I repent of my selfishness and ask You to give me a better understanding of Your all-encompassing mercy.
Amen 🙏🏼

14/07/2025

God Relents
Hebrews 4:14–16

Uncertainty was a hallmark of ancient Near Eastern religion. The worshipers of false gods never really knew how to please—and appease—the gods they worshiped. If a worshiper of such gods could figure out 1) which god they had angered, 2) how they had angered him or her, 3) and what would make that god happy, even then they still couldn’t be sure that they would be forgiven. What a terrible way to live. The true God, however, is different, and “when God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened” (v. 10).

The New Testament book of Hebrews drives home God’s approachability and willingness to forgive sinners. Not only is He compassionate toward repentant sinners—just like we see in the book of Jonah—but God has also given people “a great high priest who has ascended into heaven, Jesus the Son of God” (Heb. 4:14). This high priest can “empathize with our weakness” because He “has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin” (v. 15). And rather than causing us to shrink back from approaching God, Jesus our high priest enables us to “approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need” (v. 16).

Neither the sailors in Jonah 1 nor the king of Nineveh in chapter 3 knew if God would forgive them because a God who would forgive and who had made Himself known was foreign to their worldview. Our God is utterly and entirely different, and He welcomes us to His “throne of grace” and invites us into intimate relationship with Him. What a gift that we don’t have to wonder whether or not the Father will forgive us!

Food for thought:
Have you experienced God’s great compassion in your life? How did you respond to His grace and forgiveness?

Prayer:
Father, may we come to Your throne of grace with the humility of the Ninevites. Thank you, Christ, our great High Priest, that Your sacrifice gave us mercy instead of wrath that we deserved.
Amen 🙏🏼

13/07/2025

Nineveh Repents
Jonah 3:6–9

When you think about kings or national leaders throughout history, you probably think of strength and power. After all, that’s how they came to be leaders. So it might be hard to imagine any world leader “cover[ing] himself with sackcloth” and sitting “down in the dust” (v. 6)—both markers of repentance. Yet that’s exactly what the king of Nineveh did in Jonah 3.

What’s more, the king went beyond personal repentance and called on all his people to “give up their evil ways and their violence” in the hopes that “God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish” (vv. 8–9).

Jonah’s short sermon had cut to the heart of the king of Nineveh! And the king didn’t just command all the people to turn from their wickedness; the king commanded that even “the animals be covered with sackcloth” (v. 8)! The situation was deadly serious, but the author of Jonah gave us a bit of comedic relief with this picture of animals across Nineveh covered in sackcloth.

All of this, and the king is not even sure God would relent. You can hear the desperation in his voice when he states, “Who knows? God may yet relent and with compassion turn from his fierce anger so that we will not perish” (v. 9). Though the king doesn’t know that God will relent, the readers have an inkling that He will be based on how He responded to the sailors in chapter 1 (see 1:6–16). In addition, Jonah certainly knows that the Lord will show compassion. Despite the king’s lack of knowledge of God’s compassionate ways, he and his nation have repented and thrown themselves upon God’s mercy. Just like the sailors in chapter 1, here in chapter 3 pagans demonstrate trust in God more clearly than the prophet Jonah.

Food for thought:
Are there times when you’ve thrown yourself on God’s mercy, unsure of how He would respond? How did He respond?

Prayer:
Father God, thank You for the humbling example of the king of Nineveh in today’s reading who threw himself on Your mercy. Jesus, help us overcome our pride and stubbornness and seek You for forgiveness and restoration. Amen 🙏🏼

13/07/2025

Jonah Obeys
Jonah 3:1–5

Some often said that “delayed obedience is disobedience.” He was trying to get across to us that we should obey the Lord immediately, right when He tells us to do something. That’s true, of course, but I think Jonah shows us in today’s passage that God’s grace and mercy are such that He often multiplies opportunities for His people to obey.

After Jonah’s ordeal on the ship and in the fish’s belly, the reluctant prophet is vomited onto dry ground (Jonah 2:10). Once again “the word of the LORD came to Jonah” (3:1). The Lord’s word is much the same as it was before: “Go to the great city of Nineveh and proclaim to it the message I give you” (v. 2). This time, instead of tucking his tail and heading in the opposite direction, “Jonah obeyed the word of the LORD and went to Nineveh” (v. 3). There Jonah proclaimed the message, just five words in Hebrew, that “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown” (v. 4). If you know the history of Israel and how they treated the prophets in the Old Testament— with obstinate and repeated refusal to repent—the next verse is wholly unexpected: “the Ninevites believed God” (v. 5). What’s more, the Ninevites accompanied their repentance with outward expressions of their inward change. They fasted— “all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” (v. 5).

We’ll read in chapter 4 that this is exactly what Jonah expected would happen, and their repentance made him exceedingly angry. But today let’s reflect on the unlikeliness of the Ninevites’ repentance. They were a pagan people steeped in idolatry, and yet the Lord pierced their hearts with Jonah’s five-word sermon, and they all turned to Him. Indeed, “salvation comes from the LORD” (2:9).

Food for thought;
How did God call you to repentance? Do you share the gospel with the confidence that God really does save sinners?

Prayer:
Almighty God, the Ninevites’ remarkable repentance still surprises and delights us, centuries later. We are in awe of Your power to capture people’s hearts. It’s a joy to know that Your love, mercy, and power are changing lives today.
Amen 🙏🏼

12/07/2025

Salvation Comes
Jonah 2:7–10

In his Institutes of the Christian Religion, John Calvin called human nature “a perpetual factory of idols.” We are always looking for something or someone to worship, and it is all too rare that we acknowledge what Jonah says at the end of his prayer from inside the fish: “Salvation comes from the LORD” (v. 9).

But before Jonah comes to this bold declaration, he recounts that “when my life was ebbing away, I remembered you, LORD” (v. 7). In contrast to praying to the Lord, Jonah declared that “those who cling to worthless idols turn away from God’s love for them” (v. 8). Not many of us would consider ourselves the same sort of idolaters as the pagan sailors who repented and turned to the Lord in Jonah 1. After all, we might not bow down in worship to physical idols. But as John Calvin reminds us, we are constantly producing one idol after another. Perhaps that idol is wealth or work, alcohol or food—anything that we look to in order to fulfill us, to satisfy us, to save us.

Jonah, in his darkest hour, reminds us that “salvation comes from the LORD” (v. 9). The word in Hebrew for salvation is yeshua. We see this name for Jesus in Matthew chapter 1 when an angel of the Lord appears to Joseph to assuage his fears about Mary. The angel says, “She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins” (Matt. 1:21). This name, Jesus, is the English translation of the Greek translation of the Hebrew word Jonah uses: Yeshua. Not only is Jonah’s salvation from the Lord, salvation for all of us is from the Lord, because Jesus lived a sinless life and died a substitutionary death on a Roman cross for our sins. What a gift!

Food for thought:
In times of trouble, where do you turn? On what are you most tempted to rely?

Prayer:
Jesus, Yeshua, our Savior! We praise You and look to You with grateful hearts. We proclaim with Jonah today, “Salvation comes from the LORD!” May we walk in the light of this truth every day of our lives. Amen 🙏🏼

09/07/2025

Jonah Prays
Jonah 2:2–6

I don’t know about you, but when life is going well, my prayer life often slips because there’s no tragedy or difficult circumstance forcing me to rely on my Father. On the other hand, prayer has always been the easiest when times are the hardest because that’s when I realize just how acutely I need the Lord. Jonah found himself in the hardest of hard times—he was trapped in the belly of a fish. Certainly, it was time to pray!

Verses 4–6 record the first part of Jonah’s prayer. Here he models how to cry out to the Lord at our darkest moments—even if our own decisions caused the calamity. The most encouraging part of this prayer is Jonah’s opening, where he declares that the Lord heard his cries: “In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry” (v. 2). What a joy that God heard Jonah’s cry and responded to him. And what joy that God hears our cries even “from deep in the realm of the dead” (v. 2)! In this sudden reversal, Jonah must have been relieved that he could not hide from God!

In verse 3 Jonah acknowledges God’s power and sovereignty—it was God who “hurled [Jonah] into the depths.” And in verse 4 Jonah expresses his trust that he would be rescued from the fish’s belly: “I will look again toward your holy temple.” Despite the gravity of Jonah’s situation, and even though he alone caused it, he knew the Lord would deliver him. In verse 6 he declares that “you, LORD my God, brought my life up from the pit.”

Food for thought:
Have you gotten yourself into a desperate situation like Jonah did? If so, have you cried out to the Lord to have mercy on you and to bring your “life up from the pit”? If not, pray to Him now!

Prayer:
Lord Jesus, we are so grateful that even during the dark night of the soul, we can come to You in prayer, and You hear us. Help us, like You did for Jonah, to trust You wholeheartedly and to know that You can lift us out of any pit. Amen 🙏🏼

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