Were I've Been

 מַה־נִּמְלְצ֣וּ לְ֭חִכִּי אִמְרָתֶ֗ךָ מִדְּבַ֥שׁ לְפִֽי׃

 How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!      Psalm 119:103

It's been a barest-minimum kind of fall in my blog world, so I just wanted to write something quickly to explain.  Since September 13, exactly four months ago, I have had the excruciating privilege of studying Hebrew, the original text of about two thirds of the writings I hold to as my Scripture.  This is all part of my ongoing academic efforts towards a Masters of Divinity.  Hebrew Exegesis was both the title and intent of the course, and it involved more than just translation, as challenging as that is all on its own.  We dug deep, did word studies, learned to ask interpretive questions and did a pull-it-apart-at-the-seams paper on one specific text.  Today was the final exam

 

I am spent.  This particular run at my schooling included a transfer to Tyndale Seminary in Toronto, an hour and 15 minute commute, on a good day, one way.  I do not like to drive to Toronto.  I actually don't like to drive.   It was hard to give up an entire day during the week for this.  It was brutal doing the work

But even now, right now, as I lay my exhausted self down to sleep, I know a deep sense of gratitude for how this has made me love my Bible more.    Like honey.  Even, and maybe especially, the humility-gift it brings along with it.  There's nothing like digging into the original language and trying to wrap your brain around the author's cultural perspective to make you realize, yet again, just how very little you know about anything.   It's a sweet humility, a gentle dismantling of my soul even as I dismantled each verb and syntax 

I do hope to be able to write a bit more in the next few days before Christmas.  There's so much worship and love to be had in Advent, the beauty of it is unmissable

But that's where I've been. And now to bed