The LORD is good. When trouble comes, he is a strong refuge. And he knows everyone who trusts in him. NAHUM 1:7 (NLT)

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I awakened today to a number of challenges. My Apple Watch ran out of juice before bedtime. I placed it on its charger to give it enough juice to make it through the night so that it could measure my sleep. When I picked it up to put it on my wrist, I noticed the charger was unplugged. I would have to sleep without my watch. Oh well. 

When I arose this morning, my iPhone had not charged all night and was completely dead. It was plugged in and I have no idea why it did not charge. I plugged it in while I made coffee and fed the dogs. I plugged it in again when I made it upstairs. 

Turning on my iPad to read the Bible in the YouVersion app, I discovered last night’s dead internet is this morning’s dead internet as well. The router has lots of blinking green lights and one bold and brash red one. Occasionally, the red one will turn green and blink really fast before changing back to steady red. This means my iPad Pro is a nice paperweight.

Since my Bible reading plan is on YouVersion, I need some level of internet connectivity to read it. Fortunately, I can use the cellular signal for this. Unfortunately, I have one, and sometimes two, bars. Oh yes, and I have the aforementioned iPhone with a nearly dead battery. 

These are all first-world problems. In many ways, they are not problems at all. They are merely inconveniences. Eventually, even our neighborhood will have an internet option faster than DSL which was the state of the art around the turn of the century. 

When we arrive at Nahum in the Old Testament, we notice that it Micah and Habakkuk. We also notice it pales in size in comparison with Isaiah and Jeremiah. There are only three short chapters. They refer to the judgment coming on Assyria and its capital city Nineveh. Nineveh destroyed nation after nation and arrived on the doorstep of Jerusalem with more than threats. They were intent on more destruction.

When you read chapter 1, you quickly notice there are only two kind verses in the whole chapter. Right in the middle and right at the end there are words of encouragement and hope to God’s people. The other twelve verses beyond the introduction in verse 1 are words of judgment against Assyria. 

In the middle of the madness, God says something through Nahum that is as true now as it was then. “The LORD is good.” If you are of a certain age and have attended church long enough, a song may well come to mind when you ponder this truth. If not, search _God is good all the time_ and Don Moen. Watch the YouTube video. You’re welcome. 

Not only is God good, “When trouble comes, he is a strong refuge.” The book of Psalms is filled with affirmations of God’s goodness with words like these. They describe God as a rock, a refuge, a hiding place, a strong tower. 

There is more: “And he knows everyone who trusts in him.” 

1. God is good.
2. He is our refuge. 
3. He knows who trusts in him.

My journal asks me each morning for an affirmation. This will go in today’s entry with one minor yet significant amendment. “He knows I trust in him.” 

The World Wide Web will fail me. Our Father in heaven never will. My devices may lack energy and connectivity, but God never runs low on either. My iPad may be nothing more than a paperweight without wifi, but God’s word is living and active.

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I will trust in God.

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Our Father, thank you that you are good all the time and all the time you are good. Thank you that you are our refuge. Thank you that you alone are worthy of our trust for all things at all times and forever. I trust in you. Amen.