One of my spiritual directees, a man who is aware of my particular interest in the distinctive aspects of male spirituality, recently gave me a copy of The One Year Devotions for Men by Stuart Briscoe. The book encourages the daily reading of several bible verses with the author reflecting in depth on some aspect.
While I enjoy receiving books as gifts, I admit they get a thorough analysis before I decide to invest in reading them. I was trained as a librarian after all! So, I read the introduction, randomly read a few of the reflections to see if I could determine Briscoe's theological perspective, then turned to the scripture and topical indexes. I tried looking up one of my favorite Psalms, Psalm 62, which I often read before walking labyrinths.
Turning to Briscoe's selection for April 16th, titled Waiting Quietly, I noted what seemed a curious translation of the first verse, "I wait quietly before God, for my salvation comes from him." It seemed to turn around the focus of the verse. Continuing on, he describes the difficulty of a "man" waiting for "his wife" to shop, and the impatience the man experiences. Already alerted by the unequal language of a 'man" and "his wife," I was still surprised when his main point is that "God works at his own pace" to "wait before him as you wait for him" and "don't be impatient."
So I compared it with two versions Psalm 62, verse 1, I use regularly, either from the Book of Common Prayer (BCP) or the Book of Psalms by Robert Alter. The BCP translates the first verse as "For God alone my soul in silence waits from him comes my salvation," and Alter renders it as "Only in God is my being quiet, from him is my rescue." So putting them alongside each other:
- I wait quietly before God for my salvation comes from him (New Living Translation)
- For God alone my soul in silence waits from him comes my salvation (Book of Common Prayer)
- Only in God is my being quiet, from him is my rescue (Alter)
The translation used by Briscoe, the New Living Translation (NLT) totally omits the exclusivity clearly conveyed by my familiar translations, either as "for God alone" or "Only in God." My preferred versions also refer to either "soul" or "being," a concept that is omitted by the NLT version. Instead there is entirely new locational adverb of "before." I could go on about the many ways I have problems with the translation used by Briscoe, but my point is not about the translation. I certainly am not a Hebrew scholar, and don't know what problems the original source could have caused.
I am disturbed by how Briscoe launched from the verse to write a mini-sermon on "waiting for his answers to arrive." While I do struggle with patience when I have to wait for something, I have never seen this Psalm concerned with the waiting, and nothing at all about getting answers. To do that seems a distortion and a distraction.
After reading this Psalm before walking a labyrinth, I repeat the phrase "For God alone my soul in silence waits" as a kind of mantra during the walk. When distracting thoughts arise, I affirm my intention to be focused on God, for God, and my desire to be silent, letting go of those things crowding my head. I pray for silence as a way to open myself to God. I yearn for a sense of God, who usually speaks only when I am quiet. The struggle is not one of waiting, but it is that of being able to be aware of God, to be trusting. Or as I noted in the last entry, becoming Vulnerable and Available to God.
I have no desire to read anymore of the New Living Translation of the Bible based upon this experience. I also don't expect to regularly use the book because of it's heavy use of Evangelical themes such as God's judgement. When I looked up "doubt" in the topic index, each of the 8 reflections treat doubt as something to be relinquished or overcome. There is no recognition that doubt can be a path into deeper understanding and faith. I had hoped for something else.
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