Skip to main content

I will never leave you, never forsake you

 In this age of temporary structures and temporary relationships it's good to know that our Lord does not ever leave us. The other day I was working on Joshua chapter 1 and was reminder how precious this verse is:

No one will be able to stand against you all the days of your life. As I was with Moses, so I will be with you; I will never leave you nor forsake you. 1.5

As the Israelites prepared to enter Canaan, with Joshua at the helm, they needed to know that Yahweh, they God they worshipped, was with them, and would never leave them. In the context of this passage it assures them of future victories in battle, as they took on the Canaanites. For us, we can be sure that whatever we have to face, the Lord will be with us. 

There's a really good scene in the Netflix series Shtisel, where Ruchami is reassured by her fiance Hanina that he will never leave her. She had been worried that, just as her father left her mother (but later returned, cap in hand), Hanina would one day leave her. He promises her he will never do that. 'Praise God' she responds, 'God willing!' This is a positive reinforcement for her, not a cop-out. God always wills that a couple will remain together, all things being well. A chord of three strands is not easily broken. God is with us in our marriages as well as the rest of life. But our previous experiences of fatherhood can let us down and feel ill at ease, worried that God, or our husband, might be like our father. How verses like Joshua 1.5 can reassure us! Remember, God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind. He always remains faithful to his word, and loyal to us.

For further reading: Joshua chapter 1.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A Flow Chart for Bible Translation (a Relevance Theory Approach)

One of the current theories behind modern translation work is Relevance Theory. [1] Here is a flow chart that explains the process often used to produce a draft when using such an approach: *Make sure your translation committee makes the decision as to what kind of translation they want. A domesticated translation is one that submits to dominant values in the target language [2] whereas a foreignized translation is one that is happy to import foreign terms and ideas from Hebrew, Greek, or the language of wider communication such as the Greek term baptizo . The chart looks something like this: Text                                   Communicated Ideas                  Context A sower went out to sow  A farmer went out to sow grain   People scattered/threw seed etc. The text has very little information, but behind i...
Post a Comment
Read more

A Plea Regarding Footnotes in Bible Translation

Recently I was giving input to a team who had worked on Psalms. I noticed that in several places they had included footnotes referring to the New Testament use of those Psalms. One example was a footnote in Ps 34:20 'not one of [his bones] will be broken' that referred to John 19:32, 33, 36 where this prophecy is fulfilled. Now, obviously this is a useful link for readers, but it is better to put it in John's gospel referring back to Psalms. Why? Because the New Testament is (to some extent) a commentary on the Hebrew Bible, whereas the reverse is not true (the Hebrew Bible never refers to the New Testament). There are often two possible ways of reading a Psalm: In its original context, and  As interpreted by the New Testament writers. This is quite important, as the Hebrew Bible belongs to two faith communities, the Jews and the Christians. (Muslims too, to some extent, though they refer to the Torah and the Psalms only). If we translate the Bible in such a way that it onl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Integral Mission vs. Holistic Mission - What's the Difference?

 A lot of people are talking about integral mission these days, whereas the idea of holistic mission seems to have fallen by the wayside. What's the difference? Holistic mission is mission to the whole person, taking into account their physical as well as spiritual needs. Evangelism is combined with social action. Unfortunately, this term has been used for some years now, and much mission that was labelled 'holistic' was mainly social action. Integral mission has more focus on communities and their felt needs. What issues of poverty and (lack of) justice are there? How can a given community begin to address these issues? What input do they need from outsiders as they do so? How can they define kingdom goals that will bring them out of their physical and spiritual poverty? Lausanne defines it here . The fact is that the neediest communities are often ones that lack the Bible, and lack a clear orthography (alphabet corresponding to the phonemic system of the language, and tha...
Post a Comment
Read more