May God arise, may his enemies be scattered; may his foes flee before him. May you blow them away like smoke — as wax melts before the fire, may the wicked perish before God. – Psalm 68:1-2

Today’s Scripture Reading (April 30, 2016): Psalm 68

The Maginot Line, maybe one of the most expensive failures of World War II. The Maginot Line was intended to be a hardened defense against German aggression. It basically covered the border between Germany and France. The idea was that if Germany decided to attack France, the Maginot would alert French soldiers to the attack and provide a hardened line of defense that the Germans would struggle to get past. But the Maginot Line was purposely left incomplete. It stopped where the border between France and Germany stopped. And there were two official reasons for the incomplete line. The first was that they did not want to offend Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands who were proud of their neutrality. If those nations were able to stay neutral through a European conflict, a feat that proved to be impossible, then a German attack could not come from there – so there was no need to extend the line into the land bordering these nations. Then, of course, there was the Ardennes Forest of Belgium and Luxembourg, but also stretching into France and Germany. The Ardennes were a heavily forested, rough Terrain that was impassable to mechanized traffic – such as tanks. Only a madman would dare risk an attack through the Ardennes.

Enter Adolf Hitler, the madman who looked at the Maginot line and decided to bypass it by violating Belgium and Luxembourg neutrality and attack through the Ardennes forest – not once, but twice. While the thick forest made it hard to move mechanized units through it, it also provided Germany with a way of hiding their troop movements. France would never know the strength of the concentrated attack that was moving through the Ardennes. Paris fell to the Germans and Maginot line never even really saw battle. While France concentrated their defense along the Maginot Line, the Germans concentrated their attack through the Ardennes. And France fell.

A concentrated attack is a valuable strategy in war. It is why we have certain battles taking place in certain places. Only a fool would attempt to attack all along a border. Successful attacks often mean a concentration of men and equipment at precisely the place where you believe the enemy might be weak.

David prays that God would scatter the enemy. That he would make them like smoke which is inconsequential and eventually just blows away. A scattered army is a weak army. When resistance comes, a scattered army simply disappears, like smoke in the wind. It has no substance and therefore it can inflict no damage. And a scattered army can even be defeated by a weak defense because within the scattered army there is usually no will to fight.

Tomorrow’s Scripture Reading: Psalm 69