Thursday 10th July
Read Nahum 2:5-7
“Nineveh summons her picked troops,
yet they stumble on their way.
They dash to the city wall;
the protective shield is put in place.
6 The river gates are thrown open
and the palace collapses.
7 It is decreed that Nineveh
be exiled and carried away.
Her female slaves moan like doves
and beat on their breasts.” (NIVUK)
We sometimes forget that the words of Nahum, unlike those of Jonah, were never meant for Nineveh’s ears. They were words of encouragement to those oppressed in Jerusalem that justice would eventually be done and be seen to be done. The troops who stood outside the walls of Jerusalem and taunted God’s people are now seen stumbling and bumbling within their own city walls. The fate of the northern kingdom, exiled and carried away by Assyria, is the fate awaiting Assyria. The stability and security of their water supply will be turned against them, the royal dynasty destroyed. It is as if nature herself revolts against the depravity of Assyrian rule.
The second law of thermodynamics can be summarised as the truth that isolated systems decay, become disordered and increasingly random over time. In other words, without a constant input of energy life breaks down. When the hand of God is against you (v13) all efforts to keep order and hold things together are futile. Human efforts will fail in the face of the divine flood. Any stability we find in life is the gift of a gracious God.
“The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. 16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. 17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.” (Colossians 1:15-17) (NIVUK)
