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<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">“<b>TWO
ARE BETTER THAN ONE” MINISTRIES</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Jim
& Marie Watt</b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Tel:
<a href="tel:253-517-9195" target="_blank">253-517-9195</a> - Email:
<a href="mailto:jmbetter@gmail.com" target="_blank">jmbetter@gmail.com</a></b></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><b>Web:
<a href="http://www.2rbetter.org/" target="_blank">www.2rbetter.org</a></b></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">March 21, 2013</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
<br></p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER">
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</p><p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>SEP
30 - NAHUM 1-3 - VENGEANCE ON NINEVEH: A CONTRAST</b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="CENTER"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>1.
1:2-3 (1:1-8, ESV) THE GOD WHO OBSERVES NINEVEH. <font size="3">“The
LORD is a jealous and avenging God; the LORD takes vengeance on his
adversaries and keeps wrath for his enemies. </font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1">3
</font><font size="3">The LORD is slow to anger and great in power, and
the LORD will by no means clear the guilty. His way is in whirlwind
and storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Father,
we tremble in awe at this aspect of Your Holiness and Righteousness.
We all fall short of Your Glory. Your day of wrath, O Jehovah, comes!
</span><b><i>Hallowed be your :name!</i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>2.
1:9 (1:9-11) THE “OVERSTEPPING” OF NINEVEH. <font size="3">“What
do you plot against the LORD? He will make a complete end; trouble
will not rise up a second time.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">We
remember Father, that You have a “point of no return” with us.
There is a time “when the die is cast”. Like Nineveh, we can sin
away our day of grace! </span><b><i>Your :kingdom come!</i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in" align="LEFT"><br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>3.
1:15 (1:12-2:2) JUDAH DELIVERED FROM NINEVEH. <font size="3">“</font><font size="3">Behold,
upon the mountains, the feet of him who brings good news, who
publishes peace! Keep your feasts, O Judah; fulfill your vows, for
never again shall the worthless pass through you: he is utterly cut
off.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Thank You Father
for Your Justice and Faithfulness. We can depend upon </span><span style="font-weight:normal">Y</span><span style="font-weight:normal">ou.
The Judge of all the earth </span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">shall</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
do right! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Your
:will be done, As in heaven, so on earth.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">4.
2:13 (2:</span><span style="text-decoration:none">3</span><span style="text-decoration:none">-13)
THE FALL OF NINEVEH. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“Behold,
I am against you, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will burn your
chariots in smoke, and the sword shall devour your young lions. I
will cut off your prey from the earth, and the voice of your
messengers shall no longer be heard.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Forgive
us Father, that we forget You are a God without respect of persons!
We cast ourselves upon You mercy. We know You are both righteous and
merciful. Grant us compassion and forgiveness for one another. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">Our
:daily :bread Give us this day.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">5.
3:1 (3:1-4) CRIMES AND WAR: BROUGHT RUIN ON NINEVEH. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“Woe
to the bloody city, all full of lies and plunder - no end to the
prey!” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">O
Father, our hearts melt within us at such fullness of wickedness, and
the inevitability of Your judgment upon such! May we not be
high-minded, but profit from this revelation. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And
forgive us our :debts, As we also have forgiven our :debtors.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">6.
3:7 (3:5-13) GOD’S JUDGMENT ON NINEVEH. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“And
all </span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">who
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">look
at you will shrink from you and say, Wasted is Nineveh; who will
grieve for her? Where shall I seek comforters for you? </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">Not
only wicked man Father, but Satan and his angels and demons shall
suffer similar fate. You are just! You are holy! It cannot be
otherwise. </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">And
bring us not into temptation.</span></i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b><span style="text-decoration:none">7.
3:19 (3:14-19) INEVITABILITY OF RUIN FOR NINEVEH. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“There
is no easing your hurt; your wound is grievous. All who hear the news
about you clap their hands over you. For upon whom has not come your
unceasing evil?” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">O
Father, we groan within us. We take no pleasure in the death of the
wicked. We join Your heart in desiring </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">all</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
to come to repentance. </span></span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">This</span></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">
is the kind of God You are! </span></span><b><i><span style="text-decoration:none">But
deliver us from the evil </span></i><span style="text-decoration:none">one!</span></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><u><b>NOTE</b></u><span style="text-decoration:none"><b>:
1:7-8 (1:1-8) </b></span><b><span style="text-decoration:none">GOD’S
CONTRAST FOR NINEVEH. </span><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">“The
LORD is good, a stronghold in the day of trouble; he knows those who
take refuge in him. </span></font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1"><span style="text-decoration:none">8
</span></font><font size="3"><span style="text-decoration:none">But
with an overflowing flood he will make a complete end of the
adversaries, and will pursue his enemies into darkness.” </span></font></b><span style="text-decoration:none"><span style="font-weight:normal">In
You Father, Truth and Mercy meet! Holiness and Love balance each
other. We cannot understand it all, but we do trust You!</span></span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>Our
Psalm for the Day: 90:3-4 (90) FROM EVERLASTING TO EVERLASTING.
<font size="3">“You return man to dust and say, ‘Return, O children
of man!’ </font><font style="font-size:8pt" size="1">4 </font><font size="3">For
a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past,
or as a watch in the night.” </font></b><span style="font-weight:normal">O
Father, what is man in the light of Yourself? Yet You created us; in
Christ You redeemed us; </span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">and</span></u><span style="font-weight:normal">
You have chosen us and </span><u><span style="font-weight:normal">loved</span></u><span style="font-weight:normal">
us! </span><b><i>Hallowed be your :name!</i></b></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><b>Title:
“A Prayer of Moses the man of God.” </b><span style="font-weight:normal">Many
attempts have been made to prove that Moses did not write the Psalm,
but we remain unmoved in the conviction that he did so. The condition
of Israel in the wilderness is so preeminently illustrative of each
verse, and the turns, expressions, and words are so similar to many
in the Pentateuch, that the difficulties suggested are, to our mind,
light as air in comparison with the internal evidence in favor of its
Mosaic origin. Moses was mighty in word as well as deed, and this
Psalm we believe to be one of his weighty utterances worthy to stand
side by side with his glorious oration recorded in Deuteronomy.
This is the oldest of the Psalms and stands between two books of
Psalms as a composition unique in its grandeur and alone in its
sublime antiquity. Many generations of mourners have listened to this
Psalm when standing around the open grave, and have been consoled
thereby even when they have not perceived its special application to
Israel in the wilderness and have failed to remember the far higher
ground upon which believers now stand.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:1.
</span><b><i>Lord, You have been our dwelling place in all
generations. </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Moses, in
effect, says - wanderers though we be in the howling wilderness, yet
we find a home in You, even as our forefathers did when they came out
of Ur of the Chaldees and dwelt in tents among the Canaanites.
Not in the tabernacle or the temple do we dwell, but in God
Himself; and this we have always done since there was a church in the
world. We have not shifted our abode. Kings’ palaces have vanished
beneath the crumbling hand of time - they have been burned with fire
and buried beneath mountains of ruins, but the imperial race of
heaven has never lost its regal habitation. </span></font></font>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:4.
</span><b><i>And as a watch in the night, </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">a
time which is no sooner come than gone. There is scarce time enough
in a thousand years for the angels to change watches; when their
millennium of service is almost over, it seems as though the watch
were newly set. We are dreaming through the long night of time,
but God is ever keeping watch, and a thousand years are as nothing to
Him. A host of days and nights must be combined to make up a thousand
years to us, but to God, that space of time does not make up a whole
night but only a brief portion of it. If a thousand years be to God
as a single night-watch, what must be in the life-time of the
Eternal!</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:8.
</span><b><i>You have set our iniquities before You. </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Hence
these tears! Sin seen by God must work death; it is only by the
covering blood of atonement that life comes to any of us. When God
was overthrowing the tribes in the wilderness, He had their
iniquities before Him, and therefore dealt with them in severity. He
could not have their iniquities before Him and not smite them.
</span><b><i>Our secret sins in the light of Your countenance.
</i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Rebellion in the light of
justice is black, but in the light of love it is devilish. How can we
grieve so good a God? The children of Israel had been brought out of
Egypt with a high hand, fed in the wilderness with a liberal hand,
and guided with a tender hand and their sins were peculiarly
atrocious. We, too, having been redeemed by the blood of Jesus
and saved by abounding grace, will we be truly guilty if we forsake
the Lord. What manner of persons ought we to be? How ought we to pray
for cleansing from secret faults?</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt">90:9.
The Vulgate translation has, “Our years pass away like those of a
spider.” It implies that our life is as frail as the thread of a
spider’s web. Constituted most curiously the spider’s web is: but
what more fragile? In what is there more wisdom than in the
complicated frame of the human body; and what more easily destroyed?
Glass is granite compared with flesh; and vapors are rocks compared
with life.</font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:11.
</span><b><i>Even according to Your fear, so is Your wrath. </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">Holy
Scripture, when it depicts God’s wrath against sin, never uses a
hyperbole; it would be impossible to exaggerate it. Whatever feelings
of pious awe and holy trembling may move the tender heart, it is
never too much moved; apart from other considerations, the great
truth of the divine anger, when most powerfully felt, never impresses
the mind with a solemnity in excess of the legitimate result of such
a contemplation. What the power of God’s anger is in hell and what
it would be on earth, were it not in mercy restrained, no man living
can rightly conceive. Modern thinkers rail at Milton and Dante,
Bunyan and Baxter, for their terrible imagery; but the truth is that
no vision of poet, or denunciation of holy seer, can ever reach to
the dread height of this great argument, much less go beyond it.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:12.
</span><b><i>That we may apply our hearts unto wisdom. </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">A
short life should be wisely spent. We have not enough time at our
disposal to justify us in misspending a single quarter of an hour.
Neither are we sure of enough of life to justify us in
procrastinating for a moment. If we were wise in heart, we should see
this, but mere head wisdom will not guide us aright.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:14.
</span><b><i>O satisfy us early with Your mercy.</i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">
Since they must die and die so soon, the Psalmist pleads for speedy
mercy upon himself and his brethren. Good men know how to turn the
darkest trials into arguments at the throne of grace. He who has but
the heart to pray need never be without pleas in prayer. The only
satisfying food for the Lord’s people is the favor of God; this
Moses earnestly seeks for, and as the manna fell in the morning, he
beseeches the Lord to send at once His satisfying favor, that all
through the little day of life they might be filled therewith.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:15.
</span><b><i>Make us glad according to the days wherein You have
afflicted us, and the years wherein we have seen evil. </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">None
can gladde</span><span style="font-weight:normal">n</span><span style="font-weight:normal">
the heart as You can, O Lord; therefore as You have made us sad, be
pleased to make us glad. Fill the other scale. Proportion Your
dispensations. Give us the lamb, since You have sent us the bitter
herbs. Make our days as long as our nights. The prayer is
original, childlike, and full of meaning; it is, moreover, based upon
a great principle in providential goodness by which the Lord puts the
good over against the evil in due measure. Great trial enables us to
bear great joy and may be regarded as the herald of extraordinary
grace. God, Who is great in justice when He chastens, will not be
little in mercy when He blesses; He will be great all through; let us
appeal to Him with unstaggering faith.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:16.
</span><b><i>And Your glory unto their children. </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">How
eagerly do good men plead for their children! They can bear very much
personal affliction if they may but be sure that their children will
know th</span><span style="font-weight:normal">e</span><span style="font-weight:normal">
glory of God and thereby be led to serve Him. We are content with the
work if our children may but see the glory which will result from it:
we sow joyfully if they may reap.</span></font></font></p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;font-weight:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<br>
</p>
<p style="margin-top:0.01in;margin-bottom:0in;font-style:normal;text-decoration:none" align="LEFT">
<font face="Palatino Linotype, serif"><font style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-weight:normal">90:17.
</span><b><i>And establish You the work of our hands upon us; yes,
the work of our hands establish You it. </i></b><span style="font-weight:normal">We
come and go, but the Lord’s work abides. We are content to die so
long as Jesus lives and His kingdom grows. Since the Lord abides
forever the same, we trust our wo</span><span style="font-weight:normal">r</span><span style="font-weight:normal">k
in His hands and feel that since it is far more His work than ours,
He will secure it immortality. When we have withered like grass, our
holy service, like gold, silver, and precious stones, will survive
the fire. </span><b>(From “The Treasury of David” by C.H.
Spurgeon, abridged by D.O. Fuller)</b></font></font></p>
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