#wycliffewednesday #sigosherts
I love my Bible–God’s Word is so amazing! It brings hope, peace, and joy; and it points me to the Way-maker and Strength-giver as I walk the walk throughout each day. Before joining Wycliffe, I feel like I took advantage of my access to my Bible. I never thought twice about being able to choose which translation I wanted to use. It never entered my mind to be thankful for the audio version or having access to God’s Word on my phone. I knew there were still people who did not have God’s Word in their language, but I didn’t realize how that impacted them until I joined Wycliffe.
One of the first stories I heard when I joined Wycliffe was about the Hdi people in Cameroon. The translator working with the Hdi was really struggling to find God’s mark on the culture, something within their known culture that would help them connect with the love of God. He prayed for God’s help and felt God prompting him to look at their word for love: “dv.” As he looked, he noticed something interesting–most of their verbs had three different endings (-i, -a, and -u), but “dv” only had two. So he went to the team helping with the translation, and asked them, “Can you ‘dvi’ your wife?” The group answered “Yes,” confirming that it meant your wife had your love in the past, but no longer did. He then asked, “Can you ‘dva’ your wife?” Again, the group answered “Yes,” confirming that it meant your wife is currently earning your love. Depending on her caring love and faithfulness, you would continue to love her. Receiving the answers he expected, he now asked the question that he didn’t know the answer to, “Can you ‘dvu’ your wife?” The group responded with laughter “Of course not! If you said that, you would have to keep loving your wife no matter what she did, even if she never got you water, never made you meals. Even if she committed adultery, you would be compelled to just keep on loving her. No, we would never say ‘dvu.’ It just doesn’t exist.”
John 3:16, which says, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one an only son, that whosoever believes in him will not perish but have eternal life.” Thinking of that verse, the translator asked “Could God ‘dvu’ people?” The group was silent as they contemplated the implications of this. Tears formed in their eyes as the great love of God struck home in their hearts. “Do you know what this would mean?” they asked. “This would mean that God kept loving us over and over, millennia after millennia, while all that time we rejected His great love. He is compelled to love us, even though we have sinned more than any people.”
This revelation changed everything! Hdi people who feared God as a mean spirit began to see His great love for them, a love that was not dependent their ability to appease Him. The translation moved along and the Word of God began to spread among the Hdi. And now, as they prepare to publish their full Hdi New Testament, thousands of Hdi believers are learning to live out the unconditional love that they have received!
This story, and stories like it, have touched me to the core, bringing about a deep and strong gratitude to the Lord and His Word through which He has revealed Himself to us! The ability to understand, even in part, that God loves me no matter what is truly a gift, and one I am eager to share! Bible translation is essential to believers knowing God’s true and never ending love for them. To be called to be a part of a team of people who are working tirelessly to get God’s Word translated into the languages that speak to people’s hearts is extremely satisfying and truly exciting! We pray that God would allow us to enter the Solomon Islands soon!