Small Pants, Big Problem

“Art thou better than populous No, that was situate among the rivers, that had the waters round about it, whose rampart was the sea, and her wall was from the sea?” (Na 3:8 AV)

The warning goes out the to the capital city of the Assyrian empire, Nineveh.  They are warned judgment is eminent because of their captivity of Israel.  Because Assyria pillaged eastern Israel’s two and a half tribes, then conquered disobedient Israel, God would destroy them.  This capital city of Nineveh had a false sense of security.  Like other capitals of its day like No and Babylon, Nineveh thought itself safe and impenetrable. But Nineveh, and vast as it was, could not hold a candle to No.  The word of God calls No a populous city.  Indeed, it was.  At 52 miles long, it was a third bigger than Nineveh.  The population of No was 7.5 million people. The city of No could boast a standing army of 750,000.  The capital of northern Egypt, No sat among several rivers and numerous ports to which worldwide trade was common.  The city contained one hundred palaces capable of sending 10,000-20,000 armed men to protect the city at any one time.  However, the city no lays in complete ruins and is a fraction of what it once was.  Conquered by the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Romans, No is reduced to a sand dune.  The Assyrians whose capital was Nineveh, being the first of its conquerors, had a false sense of security.  If they could topple the largest and most powerful city of its day, then there remained no real threat the world could rise.  The problem is, God is much bigger than any earthly threat.  Nineveh had experienced unparalleled success and thought itself too big to fail.

Putting it another way, Paul so succinctly stated. “Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall.” (1Co 10:12 AV) We notice this in our children.  We may use the term, “too big for their britches.”  The child begins to be a bit presumptuous.  He deliberately disobeys because he has become calloused to correction.  Once this happens, he becomes an authority to himself.  Perhaps he has his own car and can has the ability to come and go.  Still a minor, he unfortunately things a little autonomy means complete autonomy.  Once he has a bit of autonomy, lack of respect soon follows.  This is when we might describe that child as being too big for their britches.  He believes he has conquered the power of parental authority, and therefore, he is free from all authority.  Unfortunately for him, he will discover there are authority figures far more potent then parents.  There is the employer, the school, and the government.  Ultimately, there is God.

Be not deceived.  Success in a little rebellion will not ensure success in all rebellion.  Nineveh believed because it has beaten the largest of all competitors, and they were the largest one standing, there were no other forces on earth that could win.  This is the motive behind their cruel treatment of God’s people.  If their God could not save them, they were not threat.  What they did not realize was their place in the divine plan.  They were an instrument in God’s hand for the chastisement of God’s people.  Not because they were more righteous.  Rather, because they were larger.  We can get this same attitude.  We can think we have gotten to the point that God cannot, or probably would not, bring us to our knees.  Once we have been successful in life an conquered many enemies, we can begin to think the LORD is not concerned with our minor sins or indulgences.  Just because we have matured and walked with God does not mean we are too big to chasten.  As Mama might have said, “You are never too big to spank!”