The Living Word

Okay, I know I am in CO for STINT training, but I'm not going to talk about that (it is pretty cool though). I just wanted to write a quick note about the Living Word! To be honest, I've been pretty unmotivated spiritually this summer (spiritual warfare? yes), but my parents gave me (at my request) the ESV study Bible for my 21st birthday. and i am SO excited about reading it! First because getting a new Bible is such a great, fresh feeling, so there is that standard new-Bible-motivation. But after that drew me in, I read just a little bit to see how well I can understand the translation (I use NLT now, which is sweet, but I want to try something new, and apparently ESV is pretty reliable). I read the beginning part in the Bible about how the editors chose which words to use when translating (I actually love learning about that kind of stuff), and it said that they used particular words for God and explained when they used them. So I wanted to check out an instance where someone Heavenly was on earth, and see if it gives clues to whether that was Jesus or an angel. I ended up flipping to Genesis 18 where 3 men visit Abraham, and God talks to Sarah about how she is going to have a child, but she doesn't believe him. So, to get to the point, it says that the Lord visited Abraham. (Looking into it now, I thought that the ESV said this but the NLT did not, but both do. I'm not sure if I was unclear about the visitor being God from my other translation, but it was definitely clear when I read it this time.) Maybe when I have read this passage before, it's been unclear to me who the 3 men were, if one of them was God, or how the Lord actually appeared to Abraham. When I was reading, it suddenly became clear to me that the 3 "men" are (or at least represent) the Trinity. It seems so obvious, but God really does choose when and whom to reveal knowledge about His Word to. In summary, I have more motivation to read the Word now because God revealed knowledge/wisdom about it to me (even after just reading for a short period of time). And the reason I thought that He opened my eyes like that is because the ESV is a literal translation. It was translated as such so that when people read it they will hear from God instead of from the formed opinions of the interpreters. And it works! Thanks for speaking to us through Your Word, God! :)