Probably not what Greg expected or wanted...

I started reading a Contemporary English Version of the Bible a couple of months ago and it has been extraordinarily refreshing. 

I picked the copy off the shelf in my office because I was looking for some guidance on praying against injustice. It's got "the poverty and injustice bible" written on the front (along with the silhouette of barbed wire, trenches and explosions, and part of a child's face looking quite sad and abandoned). When I first received the book several years ago (from someone who was cleaning their office) I scoffed because 1) I don't like emotionally manipulative things, and 2) I don't like the idea of adding a lens to the Bible that really shouldn't be added. (Side note: I detest many of the Bible versions I see advertised trying to appeal to specific demographics or seasons when the very obvious motive is making money. It's like the too-many iterations of Chicken Soup for the Soul or the Fast and the Furious franchise (except the latter doesn't change for demographics). Add some designs to the cover, some devotional-esque thoughts in the margins, and a title that connects with that "hey, that's me!" voice in all of us that loves being recognised or represented and you will probably sell more than a few copies of this "new" book. It disgusts me. I think the worst I have seen is called "The Jesus Bible". THAT IS NOT INNOVATIVE. THAT LENS IS NOT MAN-MADE. I'm getting so worked up writing this. But to be clear, I'm not against any republishing of the Word, adding pretty covers or helpful devos or study notes. If you're helping people engage with the Word then do whatever you want. If you're making a cash-grab, go away. Be useful, not sneaky.)

Anyways, because this "poverty and justice" Bible I was offered contained the actual inspired Scriptures, despite the trimmings, I wasn't going to throw it away. I could never.

And a couple of months ago after much wrestling with the evil and cruelty in the world and how to fathom it, nevermind end it or pray for it, I decided I should look at this book where thoughtful people have already done the hard work of searching the Scriptures for passages showing how God views and deals with injustice. I was looking for guidance on how to pray and thought I could find passages that I might even pray word-for-word because in the face of things like sex-trafficking... I don't have any words.

Instead of flipping through to read only the highlighted passages (they're literally highlighted in orange) I started at the beginning and... I was captivated. For personal reading, work-related reading, and seminary-related reading I have exlusively used the New International Version for as long as I've ever read the Bible, probably from age 13 or 14. Somehow the different phrasing has gone so far with me.

I was absolutely captivated, interested, engaged...It felt like reading the other books of the Bible I read for the first time after I became a Christian 17 years ago. So fresh and beautiful, amazing and compelling.

"Shouldn't we be able to always read the Bible that way? It's God's Word!"
     I don't know. I feel guilty about that often. I don't know if there's a perspective I lack or something I can cultivate or conjure to come to the Bible bright-eyed and bushy-tailed every day. I bet it can't be done, because of sin and maybe simply because of how the human brain works. Maybe the Word isn't supposed to always be exciting per se.

I'm beyond thankful. I have been given other help in my struggle to fathom the prevalence of evil and injustice (perhaps to be discussed in another post?) so I don't feel in a rush to get to the orange passages in this Bible. I'm still enjoying reading Genesis afresh.

I came here to write about something profound God showed me in mid-Genesis but this post is already too long so I'll save it for another day.