The Book Of Nahum "Comfortable in the Chaos" - Nahum 2:1-13
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Nahum 2:1-13 – 1 One who scatters is coming up against you. Man the fortifications! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength! 2 For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob, Yes, the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their vine branches. 3 The shields of his warriors are dyed red; the valiant men are dressed in scarlet. The fittings of the chariot flash like fire on the day of its battle preparations, and the spears are brandished. 4 The chariots dash madly through the streets; they rush around in the plazas. They look like torches; they dart back and forth like lightning. 5 He gives orders to his officers; they stumble as they advance. They race to its wall; the protective shield is set in place. 6 The river gates are opened, and the palace erodes away. 7 Beauty is stripped; she is carried away; her ladies-in-waiting moan like the sound of doves and beat their breasts. 8 Nineveh has been like a pool of water from her first days, but they are fleeing. “Stop! Stop! ” they cry, but no one turns back. 9 “Plunder the silver! Plunder the gold!” There is no end to the treasure, an abundance of every precious thing. 10 Desolation, decimation, devastation, Hearts melt, knees tremble, insides churn, every face grows pale! 11 Where is the lion’s lair, or the feeding ground of the young lions, where the lion and lioness prowled, and the lion’s cub, with nothing to frighten them away? 12 The lion mauled whatever its cubs needed and strangled prey for its lionesses. It filled up its dens with the kill, and its lairs with mauled prey. 13 Beware, I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. I will make your chariots go up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the sound of your messengers will never be heard again.
SERMON TITLE: “COMFORTABLE IN THE CHAOS”
GOD WILL NOT LET EVIL GO UNCHECKED. HE WILL ACT & NOTHING CAN STOP IT.
1. GOD USES *UNCERTAINTY TO GROW *INTIMACY
Nahum 2:1-2a – 1 One who scatters is coming up against you. Man the fortifications! Watch the road! Brace yourself! Summon all your strength! 2 For the Lord will restore…
James 1:2-4 – 2 Consider it a great joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you experience various trials, 3 because you know that the testing of your faith produces endurance. 4 And let endurance have its full effect, so that you may be mature and complete, lacking nothing. '
2. GOD DOESN’T JUST *ALLOW UNCERTAINTY. HE *LIMITS IT.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-4 CSB - “There is an occasion(season) for everything, and a time for every activity under heaven: a time to give birth and a time to die; a time to plant and a time to uproot; a time to kill and a time to heal; a time to tear down and a time to build; a time to weep and a time to laugh; a time to mourn and a time to dance;”
Nahum 2:2 – 2 For the Lord will restore the majesty of Jacob, Yes, the majesty of Israel, though ravagers have ravaged them and ruined their vine branches.
3. GOD IS FOR YOU EVEN WHEN *LIFE FEELS *AGAINST YOU
Nahum 2:13 – 13 Beware, I am against you. This is the declaration of the Lord of Armies. I will make your chariots go up in smoke, and the sword will devour your young lions. I will cut off your prey from the earth, and the sound of your messengers will never be heard again.
Romans 8:31 – 31 What, then, are we to say about these things? If God is for us, who is against us?
Romans 5:10 – 10 For if, while we were enemies, we were reconciled to God through the death of his Son, then how much more, having been reconciled, will we be saved by his life.