Wow - a little late getting this up today. I apologize for keeping you waiting :) I got sidetracked posting this morning by politics and life.
My thoughts regarding today's reading in 1 Samuel 14:24-52 are this.
How often do we make brash statements or foolish decisions in life just as King Saul did in this passage? How often do we charge head long into something shouting over our shoulder as we go: "COME ON GOD - WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR - BLESS ME IN WHAT I AM DOING"?
Well that is exactly what King Saul did here - and it almost cost him the life of his own son.
What if instead of making up our minds ahead of time - we prayed and inquired of God FIRST?!?
I know that in life, I am all too often leading the charge hoping that God is moving in the same direction that I am moving at the same speed that I am moving. But the reality of the situation is that often times in life I have found myself either on the wrong path or so far out in front that I end up experiencing way more pain and difficulty than I would have if I had waited on the Lord.
Fortunately, as I grow older, I am learning (still learning - it is a long process:), but I am learning to slow down, listen to the voice of God and follow - or maybe better yet - I am learning to get out of the way and let God lead.
I'm Moving
12 years ago
2 comments:
I've always found Saul's "my soldiers will fight better on no food" logic a bit strange.
Off-topic...did you use NLT on purpose? Maybe I'm just getting old and crotchety, but I just don't like most of the newish paraphrasy stuff.
Hey Seth, thanks for the comment. I agree with the food thing - anyone that watches Survivor knows that the team that has the most food is usually stronger and much more dominating in the challenges.
As to the NLT - we use the NLT a lot at Yellowstone Church. I grew up reading the NIV, and when I first started reading the NLT - I didn't really care for it that much. It seemed watered down and like you say "paraphrasy". But the more I sat with people who had never opened a bible the more I found myself having to explain what the NIV was really saying to them by putting it into relevant daily language. As I did that and as I compared it to the NLT, I came to realize that a lot of what I was doing had already been done in the NLT.
I still use the NIV a lot. Just recently, I have started reading the ESV in my own devotions (it is a relatively new - essentially literal translation).
By the way, some people confuse the NLT with the old Living Bible which was a paraphrase. But the NLT is actually a direct translation from the original language done by a huge team of scholars. It is done with a thought by thought approach as opposed to a word for word approach.
What I tell people is that they should read whichever version of the Bible they find the easiest to understand and read (don't confuse this with whichever translation says what you want to hear. :) provided that it is a good biblically faithful translation.
I do confess though, sometimes I like to see what Peterson has to say in The Message, but I find it very difficult to do any sort of Bible Study using a paraphrase like The Message.
Just out of curiosity, which translation of the bible do you read the most.
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