Scripture

The LORD is slow to anger but great in power.

~Nahum 1:3, CSB

Quote

God shows His awesome power through the storm.

~Paul Chappell

My blogs come from my daily bible reading. I highlight key verses and then go back and reread them and pick out the one that speaks most to me for the day.  Nahum 1:3 caught my eye yesterday and I thought about the fall of Nineveh that great city that seemed invincible. Nahum and Habakkuk have something in common: both prophesied about the fall of super-powers. Habakkuk prophesied about Babylon and Nahum about Assyria. Both of these super powers invaded the land of Israel and both were brutal to the children of Jacob. Nahum gives us details about the fall of Nineveh. The city of Nineveh was a marvel. It was surrounded by a huge wall which was 140 feet thick in places. They say that Chariot could race on the rim of the wall four abreast. At places, towers on the wall were over 100 feet high. It was considered impregnable. The area inside the city covered 1,800 acres. There were 15 gates in the wall plus a number on aqueducts and one that was rather huge; it allowed the Khawṣar River to flow into the city. The Assyrians were marauders who went out and raped and pillaged and then brought their loot back to Nineveh. Every nation in the known world hated them. Thus Nineveh was filled with treasures of all sorts. It was a hide out for a nation of thieves and murderers. The Assyrians were fierce in combat and no one wanted to face them but eventually the surrounding nations got enough and they allied themselves together and came against Nineveh while the Assyrian army is on the inside of the wall. Of course, the Assyrian laughed at their puny neighbors; after all, who can penetrate this massive wall.

But as Solomon said, “Wisdom is better than weapons of war.” [Eccl. 9:18] The allies damned up the Tigris River which is very wide but not that deep in the area of Northern Iraq. They diverted the water from the Tigris into the Khawsar river that went directly into the city. Since the wall was composed of mostly mud and clay with a slight mixture of stones, it was subject to erosion. Some believe, based on Nahum prophecy that the LORD gave assistance to the allies by sending a huge rain that flooded the Tigris. This gave the Khawsar a sudden force of energy and the surging water over the space of several hours took out a major section of the wall. The Assyrians were caught by surprise, the allies rushed through the wall and took the city by storm, putting the Assyrians to the sword. So Nahum hit the nail on the head: THE LORD IS SLOW TO ANGER BUT GREAT IN POWER. He can take down an empire in a day or even an hour.

• Well folks, I am going to praise the LORD for the little shower. It did settle the dust but we have no mud. Moulton got much more than we did but I am not complaining. It will rain when the LORD wants it to. There is one good thing about the dry weather, the grass does not grow as fast.
• Pray for Joe David and myself today as we conduct Autum’s COLS. We definitely need your prayers.

JUST GET IT RIGHT!