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

The Problems and Pitfalls of Proof-Texting

Why is it wrong to proof-text when making an argument?  Proof-texting is when someone simply quotes a verse from the Bible, out of context, to make a point. This can be in a book, a conversation, an essay, or a sermon, to give some examples. I just did a quick read of some other blogs on this topic, and none of them wowed me, so I thought I'd write my own. Then I had an even better idea: why not get you to tell me why proof-texting is problematic? In other words, I want to crowd-source the problem, and get lots of input. Since it is my suggestion, and I already did some research, let me get the ball rolling. Proof-texting is problematic because: It ignores the original context of the verse. There are actually two types of context: The literary context of the verse, that is, the verse is situated in a passage (that might be making an entirely different point) of Scripture that has a certain genre. For instance, the book of Acts is narrative, which means it is descriptive of what hap...
3 comments
Read more

Asset Based Bible Translation (ABBT)

Many of you will have heard of asset-based community development (ABCD). How can Bible translation programmes be asset based, rather than deficit based? The best way to look at this is a comparison table: Deficit based Asset based Driven by outsiders Driven by the community Outside funding Community funded Done to meet a need Done to help the community grow Quality control done by a consultant Community checked and approved Control from outside-in Lead by stepping back Products not accepted? Products are accepted Little engagement Engagement with products Scientific Organic Not sustainable Sustainable Of course many translation programmes these days are neither one nor t'other, they are somewhere between these two extremes. Nevertheless, this illustrates a point, and shows that the current ...
Post a Comment
Read more