This is my
last post to this blog. From here until
February 2, I will repeat the entries I posted to Facebook when I began on
December 16, 2010. They’re short, have a
picture, and start out using Mornings and Evenings by Charles Spurgeon. From here I will be moving into two
blogs. My second entry yesterday has
links and short descriptions of each, and they will be both centered on my own
specific dealings with a Scripture passage or book. That this last entry from Chambers is about
struggling with the truths of my Master is very fitting.
The charge
from Chambers is to wrestle with a passage or truth of God so that I express it
in some way that is mine, or makes sense to me.
This is precisely what both blogs will be about, just from different
focuses. I want to wrestle again with
Scripture on a personal level. If this
develops into a Bible study, great; if it only affects my own relationship with
my Master and no one else, so be it; or if others gain from it and my Master
uses it to bless others, most excellent.
What I have to accept is that after it is written, I begin to lose
ownership of it. What others think of it
or how my Master uses it won’t really be up to me. It’s weird.
But I am,
will continue to be, responsible for what I write. As Chambers points out, I must struggle until
I am able to somehow express what my Master shows me through a Scripture,
whether familiar or not. For instance, I
want to begin by pushing deep into the Gospel of John, and so much of what I delve
into will be familiar. What I’m looking
for in this process is a fresh view of my Master’s face; His Personality, or
perhaps His Character. I want to explore
past tradition and blind assumption to a real Person preserved and described in
these words. I want to discover Him, not
some common accepted version of Him.
To
accomplish this expression of how my Master impacts me through a passage, I first
must wrestle with the passage. My method
typically starts with translation, exploring options that expand the meaning in
common translations, so I have a wider understanding of what the author was
inspired to write. I ask questions like,
“why that word?” or “what else can that mean?” or “what does it mean that he
didn’t use this word?” or often, some combination of all three questions. After that, I look at the compiled
information, and I seek my Master’s perspective in prayer. Only then am I really able to sift what I
have found. In fact, often I have to go
back and compile all over again.
The real key
here is my submission to what has been written rather than working the other
way around. I have to wrestle with the
angel at the river to gain the blessing of understanding my Master. In the process I may very well be wounded for
life. I don’t see anything to be gained
by working with Scripture apart from also working and submitting myself to the
One who inspired it. An aspect I am
particularly excited about is working with the Hebrew Scriptures in this
process. Since my goal is to know Jesus
more, I hope to get closer to the explanation of Himself He gave on the road to
Emmaus. That will take a lot of work,
and a lot of prayer, and a constant submission to my Master. Well, here I go.
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