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Whew! Friend, does your life ever make you feel like you’re so far behind you’ll never catch up? This past week, our grandbabies (and their parents) came to visit us. What a blessing… and a challenge! I realized the last time I’d spent more than a few hours (minutes?) in the presence of an infant or 3-year-old was when my own daughter was that age (over three decades ago)! Understatement alert: I was a little rusty. And so concerned my inattention would injure or otherwise spoil their time with us that I tweaked my back. Nothing serious, just a strained muscle, but enough to force me to the sidelines rather than having as much fun as I wanted with them. I miss them all so much already!
With all that excitement, though, I confess I neglected my homework for this week.
But that’s the beauty of self-directed Bible study: we don’t have to beat ourselves up when life (and especially family life) temporarily takes over. The Holy Spirit guides and challenges us in this study, but He doesn’t punish us when we can’t do what we thought we could.
I thought I would be able to sneak in some studying while they were here, but when I went down with the back issue, I realized I wanted to spend as much time as I could with them, so I decided to trim last week’s work down to the translation comparisons and save the cross-reference work for this week when I can take more time and just wallow in God’s Word.
I did it, and the Spirit blessed me with another eye-opening discovery! How I love digging into Scripture with Him and you!
Last Week’s Work
Next week, I’ll get back on track with cross-references. Here’s what the Spirit showed me in other translations.
OTHER TRANSLATIONS
As with our last study, I compared my primary verse, verse 8, in the study text from the English Standard Version (ESV) to the New American Standard Bible 2020 (NASB20), the Amplified Bible (AMP), the New International Version (NIV), and the Good News Translation (GNT).
As I read each translation, the Holy Spirit reminded me of the moment God saved my life with Psalm 23:4. I don’t remember feeling any more powerful than I’d felt seconds before (when the demons of doubt were assailing me, goading me to pull the trigger), but I did experience peace I didn’t understand. The hopeless fear of the future driving me to suicide was replaced in an instant with an inexplicable conviction that things would be okay, even though I didn’t know how or why they would.
This week, as I read, “when the Holy Spirit comes upon you, you will be filled with power, and you will be witnesses for me…” (Acts 1:8 GNT, emphasis mine), I believe I understand exactly what took place that day. God not only saved my life, but also filled me with His Holy Spirit so that I could witness for Jesus, too.
I wrote, “This happened to me, but I didn’t realize it. I knew I would be okay. I knew I could trust God with the details, but I didn’t know how or why because I didn’t know God’s Word.”
Now I do. And now you do, too, Friend. Thank you for being a part of this journey with me—I hope you’ll keep digging into Scripture. Maybe it can help unlock something in your past, too.
No Dig-In Challenges…
… this week (while I play catchup). If you’re studying with me and have already completed your review of cross-references, you have a week off! See you next time!