Nahum 2

Nahum 2 starts with a warning – get ready because the enemy has come.  “The scatterer has come against you”.  What relevant information for us to consider.  We have a very real enemy.  And while he can attack us head on and cause disaster, he often causes us to be scattered and lose track of what matters in life.  He can cause chaos in our patch to the point that we lose sight of the important and get caught up in the urgent.  In fact, that’s likely his standard tactic.  Mess up our patch so we are focused on trying to regain control and balance, all the while keeping us off course in our walk with God and relationships with each other.

Nahum tells us how to do battle:

–       “Man the ramparts

–       Watch the road

–       Dress for battle

–       Collect all your strength”

I love how he prepares us.  We need to recognize the attack but that requires us to have people in the watchtower looking for the enemy.  We have to man the stations and be on guard.  Too often we are oblivious to the spiritual warfare happening all around us, often even in our own life.  Let’s be clear about one thing.  Our enemy has three missions for us – to kill, steal and destroy.  No more, no less, but very focused on our demise.  So being alert and aware of that mission is important.

But Nahum goes on to tell us that beyond manning the ramparts and watching, we also need to dress for battle.  Paul wrote strong words about how to get dressed in Ephesians 6.  We need to put on the armor of God every day, and be dressed like a warrior.  The battle is happening all around us all the time.  We shouldn’t have the armor hanging in the closet until we are under attack.  By then it might be too late to get it on.  The power of God’s armor is when we wake up and get prepared each day so we can do battle as the enemy comes.  Then we are reminded to collect our strength, which is really God’s strength available to and through us.  Our only chance of victory is when we use the power of God in our lives to take on the enemy.  God wins the battle when we show up in His power.

Nahum makes that clear as he wraps up this chapter.  The truth is that we know how the war ends.  Jesus won it on the Cross when he overcame death and arose from the grave.  But that doesn’t mean we all don’t face battles every day because although we have access to the keys to the Kingdom through Christ, we often don’t make that choice.  We often don’t put on God’s armor and claim the victory of the Cross in our own battle with the enemy.  And thus we struggle and fall and face destruction and can lose the battle for our soul.  It never has to end that way.  God has made a way.  But we have to let God be God and walk in His power and do battle His way.  Are you living in that power?