Are you hiding behind walls or His grace? Nahum

Nahum 1:7-9 (NASBStr)

The Lord is good,

A stronghold in the day of trouble,

And He knows those who take refuge in Him.

 But with an overflowing flood

He will make a complete end of its site,

And will pursue His enemies into darkness.

 Whatever you devise against the Lord,

He will make a complete end of it.

Distress will not rise up twice.

Nahum is a prophecy against the city and nation of Nineveh.   Even though they repented under Jonah's ministry, they failed to teach their children about that great repentance and they fell back into sin.   They had sought refuge from the Babylonians and Assyrians within the walls of their fortified city.  They felt safe and secure.  They had withstood many enemies within the comfort of those walls.   However, they had rejected God and He would all the Babylonians and Assyrians to conquer them as punishment for rejecting God's grace.  But how would that happen behind the tall walls of a secured city?   The walls were made out of bricks, filled with straw and baked in the sun.   However, when God allowed the Tigris River to flood it quickly dissolved the Ninevite stronghold.   The walls deteriorated in the flood and the walls crumbled.   Their security was completely dissolved around them.  Note what Nahum says later in the book:

Nahum 2:6 (NASBStr)

The gates of the rivers are opened

And the palace is dissolved.

In contrast, God's stronghold is secure.   God is mocking the Ninevites.   Those who take refuge in Him will never fail to be safe and secure.   Because He is good.  He is a stronghold in times of trouble.   The walls they thought would protect them crumbled by a simply flood (sent by God).   We might think the things we possess or the jobs we hold will keep us safe in storms.  But, in reality the only refuge and stronghold we have is the goodness and graciousness of God.   Faith in God trumps any "walls" we may hide behind.   God's goodness is the greatest and only refuge we need.