The other day I was re-reading the story of Abraham and Isaac, specifically the part about when God asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Only this time something touched me that hadn’t before, so I wanted to share it with you.
You see, this time I was reading it in Jula. And when you get to verse 14 of Genesis 22, I loved the translation there. This is right after Abraham saw the ram that God provided and sacrificed it in Isaac’s place. In English, we read “So Abraham called that place The LORD Will Provide. And to this day it is said, “On the mountain of the LORD it will be provided.” That’s all good and well. We like the Lord providing. But often, at least in the US, we seem to be able to provide for ourselves and so don’t see the need for the Lord to provide in miraculous ways like that (though everything that we have is a provision of the Lord!). So often it doesn’t really hit us as much as it hit me the other day.
In the Jula translation, instead of using the word “provide,” it uses instead the word “take care of.” Ala bena o nyanabo. And with that expression flows amazing assurance and peace. God’s going to take care of it. Whatever the “it” may be. I don’t have to worry about “it,” since “it” is in God’s capable hands.
When I think of that word “to take care of,” “nyanabo,” there is one time in my life that specifically comes to mind. I had done something that I didn’t see any problem with, only to receive a nasty phone call from a friend saying that basically I had betrayed her and her friends and what I had done was unthinkable. Ouch! I didn’t know what to do to fix our relationship. I was hurt badly, knowing that I had hurt my friend, even though it was unintentional. The next day I talked to a trusted friend who knew all involved, and explained what had happened, how I wanted to make it right, but that I didn’t know what to do. And you know what she said? She said that she’d “nyanabo” it. That she’d take care of it. It brought so much relief, since I knew that my problem was in the hands of a trusted friend who had promised that she’d take care of it. I didn’t have to worry about it anymore. True, there may still have been consequences and things I needed to do in the future, but I wasn’t alone in this problem. My trusted friend was going to take care of it and help me along in whatever my role in the situation needed to be. I knew that everything was going to be ok.
And that’s what God promises in this verse. He’s going to take care of “it.” Even if there’s something you need to do in the process, He’ll be the loving friend who will lead you and show you what to do, and He’ll be leading the effort.
Ala bena o nyanabo. God will take care of it. Thank you.
This is excellent! Love that translation.