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“She’s lost eighty percent in one ear and twenty percent in the other”—words from the doctor that changed my life. A childhood bout with spinal meningitis resulted in the most repeated words in my repertoire being, “Excuse me. What did you say?” Knowing the context increases the odds that I can make sense of the words. Does the same concept hold in hearing and understanding God’s Word? We hear through the filter of our experience. How much Scripture do we misinterpret because we listen to it through our twenty-first-century context and culture?
Hearing Assumptions
In every culture, some things can go without saying because everyone knows them. For example, in the Western world, we assume parents want their children to grow into independent adults with lives of their own. We expect they will choose their career and mate. But in other parts of the world, parents train their children to be interdependent, their lives entwined within the community. Decisions about jobs and spouses are too important to leave to the young; they require community guidance. Many times, we assume other people’s values and assumptions are the same as ours. As I realized when I lived in Hong Kong, that’s often not true. It’s also not true in our neighborhoods, communities, families… or the Bible.
Those who wrote the Bible lived in and wrote to a culture very different from the West. Therefore, the underlying assumptions in biblical society—those things that needed no explanation—differ from what we assume in the Western world. Yet the truths still apply.
My Invitation to You
Do you want to sharpen your hearing so you can better understand and apply God’s Word? If so, I invite you to join me on a journey. Together, we will discover how knowing the biblical authors’ context and culture can uncover life-changing truths hidden in Scripture.
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6 Comments
Steve Nyarkotey Quao
Hello Cherished Queen! May the Good Lord continue to bless and enrich your Ministry. Your details have been a blessing not only to me but also the entire family. Grief has devastated the faith of even the strongest Christian. The words in Romans 8 are consoling enough to trigger another fire in the life of the most devastated Christian.
Thanks very much for sharing.
Best regards to your family.
Nancy Lucenay
Dear Steve:
Thank you so much for reading and writing. I pray you’ll know God’s comforting presence and peace as you walk through the valley. He is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. (Psalm 34:18)
Leon Murdoch
Enjoy your posts. They are also always at the right time. Happy New Year to you and Harry
Nancy Lucenay
Thanks, Leon! Wishing you and Janey a safe and healthy 2021.
Sandy Kress
Wonderful post, Nancy. Anger is a tricky thing and often a real problem. It certainly is very much so in our society today, as you point out. Perhaps it’s appropriate on rare occasion. But we’re taught one thing for sure: “In your anger do not sin.” Ephesians 4:26
Nancy Lucenay
Thanks so much, Sandy! Yes, anger is a challenge for all of us, I think.