Small Things Are Great

We are in the book of Nahum — or Nehem, as some pronounce it. This little book comes roughly a century after Jonah, and if you don't remember what happened in Jonah, wueh! You might miss why Nahum is saying what he is saying. Remember Nineveh? These are the people who repented when Jonah announced that God would destroy their city. God saw their change of heart and relented. Jonah wasn't particularly excited about God's decision, but that is a story for another day. Now, fast-forward a few generations. The same Assyrians are terrorising other nations and behaving as though the world belongs to them. They attacked Israel, conquered Samaria and carried many Israelites into captivity. Later, they even besieged Jerusalem, only for God to intervene and deliver the city (2 Kings 18–19; Isaiah 36–37). You would think people who had once experienced God's mercy would know better. Apparently, history can repeat itself, even after a very powerful repentance meeting! This is where...

Reading the document Zechariah is like reading Revelation. If not careful, you can be caught up in the vision as the writers were but end up missing the whole communication. Just as in Revelation, the prophet is in the company of an angel. All this is in a vision, 8 to be exact, but our brother almost sleeps after the fourth vision and the angel has to wake him up. Similar to John whenever he was called upon to "write!" as he got lost in what he was seen. Two things are guides to understanding this prophecy. One, the name of the prophet and two a phrase that's repeated 4 times.  First, the name. Zechariah. This means "The Lord remembers." Reminds me of The Lord remembering Noah and his family. The only thing The Lord does not remember is our sins once we've repented. This book, a contemporary of Haggai is all out to remind Israelites who were in captivity that God does remembers. What does he remember? Two things. His promises and His people. Israelites had...

One thing I have come to admire as I continually study the Scriptures is the remarkable order in which these writers communicated God's message. Either they were very smart, or the Spirit of God gave them such clarity and direction that even their writing followed a deliberate flow. The more you study these prophetic books, the more you begin to notice that what initially looks like a collection of disconnected prophecies is actually a message unfolding in a particular direction. We finished Micah chapter one looking at the places. God comes down from heaven to earth, and specific places begin to appear in the picture. Samaria, Jerusalem and the surrounding towns are brought into view as judgment moves through the land. Chapter one, therefore, gives us the places. Chapters two and three shift our attention from places to people. First, Micah addresses the general population, particularly those who plan evil and oppress others (Micah 2:1). He then turns to the prophets, some of whom...

When what is far away makes it home. We are now in the book of Micah, and this is one book that gave me quite a bit of a struggle when I first started reading it. I could read the words, but I was not necessarily seeing the flow or getting the direction. I went through it three or four times, and there were moments when I genuinely felt stuck. I would read and think, “What exactly is going on here?” Thankfully, the help came through, and eventually I began to get a sense of what Micah was saying and where he was taking us. As we begin, it is important to note that there are several people called Micah, or names closely related to Micah, in the Bible. The spelling varies depending on the person and the English translation. For our purposes, let us narrow our attention to the three who are commonly rendered Micah. The first is the Micah we meet in Judges 17 and 18. This is the man who made an idol, established his own shrine and hired a Levite to serve as his priest. Eventually, the trib...

There’s a man who went by the name of Epaphras. Yap. I know you maybe know no one by that name. He’s mentioned three times in the New Testament. The first time as a fellowship starter, the second time as a fervent prayer warrior, and the third time as a fellow prisoner — free even in prison. All three mentions are by Paul, as he pens(it was a feather though) his letters to the church in Colossae and to our brother Philemon. His journey is believed to have started in Ephesus. In Acts 19, we read that Paul spent two to three years there, teaching about the baptism of Jesus and the Kingdom of God. Paul became a lecturer there and had some students under him. It’s believed Epaphras was one of those who heard the gospel then and when he travelled back home to Colossae, he simply preached what he had experienced and learned. As a result, a fellowship was started. (bursts in song: ainuliwe Bwana wa ma bwana, ainuliwe ametenda mema...) What catches my eye is the casualness with which he is men...

As we continue in this journey through the Bible, I have been highlighting three things that I believe are very key as we study the Scriptures. When I say Scriptures in this particular context, I am talking about the Law, the Prophets and the Writings, not the New Testament. There are three questions I believe we need to keep asking as we read. Number one: Who is God? Number two: What is going on? Number three: What is my place in whatever is going on? When those three questions begin to find answers, something changes in the way we read. Every book has its own setting, its own people, its own immediate circumstances and its own voice. Hosea was not writing while looking over his shoulder at Chronicles to make sure the two books matched. He was not thinking, “Let me make sure Paul will understand this one day.” Paul, Peter, James and Luke were not Hosea's immediate audience. Neither were we. This then begs another question: Is the Bible history, or is it just a story? Whatever your...