Mark 10:35b “Teacher, we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you.”

Should we expect our Lord to give us whatever we want?

I edited out the first part of Mark 10:35 in order to present this issue as a personal item without assumption of detail or experience. This is between you and your Lord, not you and me. I can only answer for myself.

While I would like to impart some sort of wisdom here, I cannot, not above anything that is already available to all of us in the bible. What I would like does not always meet God’s will and knowing that, I do not speak for Him, only for myself.

I have made some of the same mistakes as others, lacking the self-control required to do what is right in every situation. That makes me human. We are capable of making mistakes even with the best of intentions. That does not mean we should stop trying to do good.

I have prayed some of the prayers of David, but I am not David. I am not called to become King, so I should not expect the same results.

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.

That sounded like a really good prayer but I had no idea what God would put me through in order to cleanse this heart. If I was at least a little bit better the task of purging might not have been so painful. That is not to say it hasn’t been acceptable, just that the process is not finished.

My idea of clean falls far short of God’s concept, oops.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you, who by God’s power are being guarded through faith for a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time. In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ. Though you have not seen him, you love him. Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory, obtaining the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:3-9

Faith that is not tested is the vanity of a willful mind that is not set on God’s promises.

I prayed that the Lord would make me the man He wants me to be. I have no right to complain about the results or what He had to do to get me here.

Recently I said “read the bible, in any one of its acceptable forms”. That in itself is worthy of a discussion as we do not all read the same bible translation. Who is to say what is acceptable and what is not?

The original writings were Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek. Who among us are fluent in all three?

Every translation into another language requires a linguistic understanding that goes far beyond mere swapping one word for another. Hebrew is cultural, the original meaning meant something different to those that lived in the time of Moses because up until Moses it was a verbal tradition. Most of those people did not even know how to read.

Aramaic was a regional language very similar in design to the Phoenician alphabet, a writing system that developed out of the North Semitic alphabet and was spread over the Mediterranean area by Phoenician traders. It is the probable ancestor of the Greek alphabet and, hence, of all Western alphabets.

The Greek language was one of conquering heroes, one that advanced wisdom and controlled a wider range of influence outside the areas of Israel.

Then there came Rome and that brings us up to the time of the birth of Jesus, Latin.

I speak English and if you listen to some of my “friends” not all that well. So my choices are many as offered up by my favorite bible app, The BibleGateway. It covers hundreds of English translations beginning with the Tyndale in 1535 to the Simplified King James Version in 2022.

So what are the acceptable forms? Well for me it is those translations that the Holy Spirit most clearly speaks to me. What was written on my heart is the KJV. I write mostly in the ESV simply because it is not archaic like the KJV and is free of any copyright restrictions.

I am led from time to time to delve into the original languages but as I do not speak those languages, I rely on linguistic experts and seek the help of the Holy Spirit to understand how those efforts are relevant to the truth He wants me to see.

When doing a deep dive one must rely on the breath of life to remain there for any length of time.

Note closely that no bible quotes were given here today.