Have you ever felt clueless, cut off from God and His Word?

 

You might be asking, why did you move to Africa?

 

Well, Dave and I had lived in Africa for only a few weeks when we had a vivid, eye-opening experience that reminded us why we’d taken jobs in Africa.

 

For the first time in our lives, we experienced 

what millions of people experience around the world:

 

Without a Bible in a language they understand, 

throngs and masses of people 

walk out of their churches, week after week, year after year, 

with little or no understanding of Scripture readings 

or their pastor’s sermon.

 

Without Scriptures in their own languages, 

many multitudes can’t personally know or experience God 

and His love and grace.

 

Remember what I told you last week: Dave and I attended a very rural church on our first day of the “village living” segment of our three-month orientation.

 

There high in the Taita Hills, I’m certain no white people had ever visited their church before (and maybe never again since then).

 

Dave and I sat on hand-hewn plank benches for a three-hour worship service—understanding nothing anyone said. I suspect people spoke Swahili in their prayers, hymns, and Bible reading, but I had a hunch they spoke to each other in the Taita language. Perhaps the sermon was in the Taita language, too.

 

Whatever language they spoke, the local people understood. They worshiped God and took in the sermon in languages that spoke to their hearts—but Dave and I were clueless. We had no idea what the Scripture reading was, what the song lyrics were, what the people prayed about, or what the pastor said in his sermon.

 

I had known in theory why people needed Scriptures in their own languages, but that day I personally experienced what it’s like to have no Bible in a language I understood. God used that experience to drive home the importance of Bible translation, and we stepped out of church that morning with renewed enthusiasm for the jobs that awaited us after our orientation course.

 

You see, we moved to Africa to work with Wycliffe Bible Translators, a mission agency with a vision to provide each man, woman, and child with God’s Word in their own language—the language of their heart, the language they understand best. The language in which they speak words of endearment to their beloveds. The language in which they sing lullabies to their babies. The language in which they dream and hope and pray.

 

Having Scriptures in their own language makes it possible for them to experience God, love Him, communicate with Him, and serve Him. God and His Word have the power to transform. They can make all the difference for them on earth and for eternity. (From Chapter 3, Grandma’s Letters from Africa.)

 

What about you? 

Have you ever thought about what it would be like for you, 

personally, to have only the original Hebrew 

and Greek versions of Scriptures? 

Or to live in a foreign land and have Bibles 

and worship services in a language you don’t understand well?

Imagine how different your life would be 

without Scriptures you could understand 

in your heart and mind. 

Think of specific ways the Bible’s message 

has changed your life.

 

Give it some thought, and then thank God for your Bible in your language!