Nahum 1:13-15

This study was done using the Amplified Bible, which I don't have permission to publish, so I will replace the verses here with the American Standard Version.  Because of that some of the comments may not totally make sense because the AMP has expanded explanations.  I would highly recommend going to a site like BibleGateway.com where you can read the AMP version for free.

13 And now will I break his yoke from off thee, and will burst thy bonds in sunder.

A. This breaking of bonds and yokes is a violent action, and definite.  When God decides to set a person or nation free, it is true freedom.  Unfortunately too many people decide to return to their former bonds and are once again enslaved.  This is not to say that God will not free them again, but they must go through the entire freedom process again.

B.  Here God is no longer referring to Sennacherib as a person, because Sennacherib had already been defeated before this.  He is now referring to Assyria as a nation and the bonds which Sennacherib caused to be placed on the Israelites by war.

14 And Jehovah hath given commandment concerning thee, that no more of thy name be sown: out of the house of thy gods will I cut off the graven image and the molten image; I will make thy grave; for thou art vile.

A. The Ninevites worshipped primarily Dagon, the fish god of the Philistines, and Nisroch the Assyrian god of agriculture.  

Dagon image 1

Dagon image 2

The god Nisroch

Nisroch was a god that Sennacherib invented: "In the Midrash, "Nisroch" is actually said to be derived from the Hebrew word "neser." Neser was the name given to a plank of wood discovered by Sennacherib on his return to Assyria from his campaign in Judah. The sages write that this plank was originally part of Noah's Ark, and that Sennacherib worshiped it as an idol. It would therefore be concluded that it was this idol that Sennacherib was worshiping when he was murdered by his two sons."

15 Behold, upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace! Keep thy feasts, O Judah, perform thy vows; for the wicked one shall no more pass through thee; he is utterly cut off.

 A. In this passage Nahum comes very close to quoting Isaiah, who was a nearby contemporary.  

"How beautiful upon the mountains are the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace, that bringeth good tidings of good, that publisheth salvation, that saith unto Zion, Thy God reigneth!" - Isaiah 52:7

This goes again to show the influence that Isaiah must have had on Nahum's life.  Here Nahum, even goes on in great assurance of this prophecy in telling the Israelites to go on celebrating their feasts, to celebrate as if the Assyrian's grip had already been broken, although this didn't not happen for another fifty years or so.

Always Be Prepared

Last week my family and I went into David for our weekly rounds of grocery shopping and other errands (like paying rent, electric, etc...) which is always a fairly hectic and tiring time.  In order to make things go faster we usually split up.  She does the grocery shopping while I am doing everything else.  

On this particular day I had to teach in our Tuesday night Bible study and had been in a long meeting before going into town, so time was even more crunched.  

I went to the bank first, which had a horrible line and took a lot longer than I expected to pay the rent. After that I went to a local hardware store to get some supplies for our upcoming trip into the mountains.  In that store both registers were not working properly and I ended up having to wait to the point that Karmy was starting to send me messages asking when I would come get her because she was finished with with the grocery shopping.   I couldn't go just yet though, I had one more stop at a different grocery store because it carries some things the other one doesn't.  

So I finished getting everything I needed, and rushed through that last line and out to the truck.  I had just opened the door and tossed the stuff in the back when I heard, "Excuse me sir, sir."  I turned around to see a bony old woman with a little boy about the age as my oldest son.  She said, "Please help us, I need some food for the child."  My natural instinct was to think, "I don't have time, Karmy is waiting for me and I have another meeting to get to!"  But Matthew 5:42 always goes through my head in response to my excuses, "Give to him who asks you, and from him who wants to borrow from you do not turn away."

The fact is, we could all argue that the woman may have been using that child to get money for her own drug problem, which is certainly possible, but all I know is what the Scripture says.  So I will give until I know for sure it is being used for sinful purposes or God tells me not to (which He sometimes does).  I can't leave that child to starve.

I told her to stay put, grabbed a cart and went back inside.  I filled the cart up with as much food as I could afford and went back outside and told the lady.  "You know, I'm a gringo, so people ask me for money almost every time I come into the city, and a lot of times God tells me not to give them anything.  But this time He told me to help you, so take this food and know that God loves you and He is going to take care of you."  She said "Thank you, please remember to pray for us."  

I have been praying for them since that happened, and I want to ask that you reading this would do the same.  We need to always be ready for what God may bring our way, even in the most hectic of times. You never know when it is going to be an angel in disguise sent to test you to check your availability to the Kingdom.  Yes, some of our groceries melted, but that is such a tiny price to pay compared to being able to bless that woman and child, and tell them that Jesus loves them.

Maybe Not Exciting on Paper

As I write this post I am sitting in a building with a dirt floor, covered in dirt and mud, wearing clothes that have been soaked by rain and sweat for the past three days, and eating food cooked over a fire for every meal.  And I am so happy about it.  I am happy because this is one of the most momentous occasions in missions here in Panama, and not just within YWAM.  

Missions organizations tend to have an Achilles heel, and it is a big one.  The weakness is that because of the rush, and excitement to fulfill the great commission, there is a massive tendency to go into a place, get some people to make a commitment to Christ, and then move on to somewhere else.  Discipleship is often left behind in favor of numbers.  What you end up with are hundreds, if onto thousands of new converts who can't tell you any more than there was a guy named Jesus who died for them, and they accepted Him into their hearts.  And yet they continue in their same lifestyles, same witchcraft, same idols and sins, no real transformation in their lives or cultures.

We in YWAM Chiriqui have been called to what may seem like a less glamorous, less exciting road on paper.  It is slower no doubt.  However the road we are taking is the road that produces fruit that lasts, something quite elusive these days.  We have launched a ground breaking ministry model here in Central America and many other parts of the world.  Instead of a quick and easy ministry model that allows for exciting newsletters and stories of explosive numbers, we are running with the tortoise and taking one week of every month for at least a year with a group of Ngobe students to teach them Biblical Principles and attributes of God.  They will be trained to multiply this same model, and take it to other villages where true disciples with be raised up rather than become mere statistics

These will be many months of sweat and mud and stinky latrines, but the weight of glimmering jewels that are these Ngobe Christians that come out of it will far out weight any discomfort we feel along the road.  It may not sound exciting on paper, but I assure you the Kingdom of God is tense with excitement to see what is coming.

I am a Missionary (Video)

I am a missionary.  This video was made by the Fire and Fragrance Media team.  The narrator is Loren Cunningham, the founder of Youth With a Mission.

The School of Frontier Missions

Did you know that there are still about 3,400 people groups in the world that have never been engaged by the Gospel?  That means no missionaries have gone to work with them yet.

Did you know that only about 1% of missionaries go to unreached parts of the world?
Did you know that less than 1% of church funding goes toward reaching those 3,400 groups?
Did you know that every day an average of 300 Christians are martyred for their faith in Jesus?

Don't feel bad if you didn't, the vast majority of the church is completely unaware of these facts.

I am announcing for the first time, here on the blog before anywhere else, that here in YWAM Chiriqui we will be running the School of Frontier Missions (SOFM).  Frontier Missions is one of the largest parts of YWAM, but in Central America we have not had an SOFM running in some time.  Karmy and I are both qualified to lead it, and will be running the school for the first time in 2015.  We don't have exact dates yet, but I can say that it will probably be later in 2015.

This school is for people who are serious about reaching the unreached, and going to places that 99% of others won't.  These people are the Navy Seals of the missionary world, often risking their lives, and sometimes giving them for the Gospel.

The Discipleship Training School (DTS) through YWAM is a prerequisite, and similar to the DTS, this school has a three month lecture phase, followed by a two month outreach.  This school is not for everyone, it is meant for serious, long term missionaries on the front lines, and although at this time we don't require it (although this could change) we ask for a two year commitment by all students.

The SOFM is going to be intense, and life altering!  If you are interested write me and let me know!  alan.crookham@gmail.com.

Straight Grace

Every year Good focuses on one specific subject with me.  I'm not sure why, but that's just how He likes to do things with me I guess.  It probably just takes that long for me to finally get what He's trying to say!  If anyone read my other blog from last year, Kingdom Light, you'll remember that last year was pretty much all about consecration, priesthood, and heaven itself.  That was such an exciting year for me.  I loved that whole topic so much.

This year has been very different though.  Rather than all the deep insights on the Levites and consecration He was showing me, it has been straight up grace.  It seems like such a basic topic, but I have to say, it is one of those subjects that can be difficult to understand for someone like me.  Those of you who know me well, know that I am far from the shimmering beam of light most people see ministers and missionaries as.  Especially the teenagers I spent the last nine months with.  They all vomited under my care more than once (disgusting games are just part of the deal), the guys especially got a much more human look at me the day they came over and we played Xbox all day.  It turns out I'm not nearly as good as I think I am....

However, standing next to several of my friends in ministry who have such a passion for God, they often have great "testimonies".  You know the kind, the former vomiting transvestite with AIDs who was also the head of the mafia somewhere and had a instantly liberating encounter with God while doing heroin and simultaneously getting blackout drunk .  Those are the testimonies (tamed down of course) that you get to hear in church.  And if there is one thing we know, people who have had an encounter with God like that REALLY appreciate His grace and mercy, and love Him so incredibly much.  They truly understand grace because they have lived it out to such an extent they know the only way they are even alive is because of it.  "He who is forgiven much, loves much."

She understands in a way I can't.

I don't have a testimony like that.  A lot of people don't.  The fact is, I'm a church kid whose been in ministry forever and have never done anything remotely close to the things I hear people testify about.  I've never smoked anything in my life.  I've never done drugs.  I've only had one girlfriend, who is currently my wife of almost eight years.  The two times I drank alcohol were without my knowledge.  The first time was having dinner with another missionary who didn't tell me they were giving me wine, when I tasted it in and realized what it was I didn't drink any more.  The second time was during a special communion service where they had actual wine instead of grape juice.  I've never been in a gang or a fight, nothing people consider to be worth putting in a testimony.  

Don't be fooled of course, I've sinned as much as the next guy, just not the kind of stuff you consider to be "big".  The truth is though, it puts me at a serious disadvantage in the grace and mercy department.  

Grace.  Alan style.

See, there is a reason why Jesus came to earth and was tempted in every way.  Check this out:

"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need."                                                                                                                  - Hebrews 4:15 & 16

Jesus is able to have grace towards us because he understands the temptations we go through.  He gets it.  And it is because He gets it that He doesn't smite you into oblivion when your eyes wander in the wrong direction.  I on the other hand, have always been a supporter of the smiting.  Not because I enjoy watching people fall, it frustrates me like you wouldn't believe when someone with so much going for them chooses the wrong path.  It's just that in the past I have always have the attitude that if you choose the wrong thing, you should be held accountable for the decisions you have made.  I still agree with that, because we all will be held accountable one day, but now grace comes before the smiting.

Me, but not as cute.

So how do I understand grace better now?  It's not because I fell away from the Lord or anything like that.  I adore Him more than I ever have in my life, but when my family and I made the decision to go to Texas, I told Karmy that we would never be able to return to the mission field.  I was convinced we would lose everything here and even if we wanted to come back, we wouldn't be able to.  I went to Texas fully convinced it was for a long, long time.

But when we were there and I started to see that we were inevitably going to need to come back to Panama after a much shorter time than I expected, I was pretty scared.  I never doubted that God could take care of us, but after making such a big decision, and then going back on it, I didn't think God would want to.  Because if all the smiting, remember?  

Smitten

I am a strong believer in, "No one who puts a hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62, because the Bible point blank says it.  There is no way around it.  As far as I was concerned, I was turning back and wasn't worthy of God's help on this.  I had resolved that I would come back to Panama and have to become like a tour guide or English teacher, or something like that.

God had different plans though, and decided to use it to show me what grace really looks like for the first time in my life.  Despite everything, not only did God allow us to come back and continue in the ministry here at YWAM, but He restored absolutely everything we had given up when we came here.  Same house, same beds, same laundry machine, same dishes, everything.  And on top of that He gave us an even better vehicle than we've ever had before!  

I know a lot of people would disagree with me, but if there is anyone on this planet who didn't deserve a second chance on the mission field, it is me.  But the grace of God was poured out on my life, and because of that I am now able to understand and extend grace to others where I would formerly be looking for the Hammer of Justice.  Thank you Jesus for grace, and for allowing me to experience it!