There was a line from Elihu's second speech that really hit home.
Just because you refuse to live on God's terms,
do you think He should start living on yours?
A pretty powerful rhetorical question.
Let's be honest, we all have bouts in our life where we stubbornly plead for God to do things our way. But Elihu reminds us that we are here - and we were created - to follow God's plan. Not the reverse.
Now, interestingly enough, I didn't remember coming across this line before. I wondered if it was because Brian had been reading from the Message version of the Bible.
So I checked the Douay-Rheims version and it offered this translation for the same line:
Doth God require it of me, because it hath displeases thee.
And the King James version offered this one:
Should He repay it according to your terms,
Just because you disavow it?
Neither is quite as straightforward as the Message version, in my opinion, so perhaps that is why I missed it the first umpteen times I read it.
Is this translation pure to the original intent? I don't know. Far smarter minds than mine can weigh in on that.
But there is no disputing the message itself is spot on.
God Bless.
3 comments:
Thy will be done, as long as it is what I want!
You're so right Michael: "we were created to follow God's plan. Not the reverse." And the realisation of that is so frightening, because most of us really fear losing control. Handing over the driving wheel to someone else Whom we've never seen or met, but believe in with blind Faith and little evidence.
It takes a lot of Faith to do this. As much as a mustard seed.
Brilliant post Michael. Thank you so much.
God bless.
God may steer us in a different direction...after all, He created us and knows us better than we know ourselves, and He loves us more than we love ourselves.
Victor, Colleen, Jade: Thank you so much for stopping by and commenting! God Bless you!
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