Skip to main content

The Churning Inside

“The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.”  (Job 30:27) (NIV)

I think I first noticed that verse due to the word “churning”.  I don’t know about you, but I know that there are times when my gut starts to churn.

In thinking about what it might mean to have this churning going on inside me, I looked at how some other versions of the Bible translated the verse.  I found some very interesting ways in which the word has been translated:

“My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me.”  (ESV)

“I am seething within and my heart is troubled and cannot rest; days of affliction come to meet me.”  (AMP)

“My stomach is tied in knots; pain is my daily companion.”  (CEV)

“I constantly feel upset. And my suffering has only just begun.”  (ERV)

“I am torn apart by worry and pain; I have had day after day of suffering.”  (GNT)

“My heart seethes and never stops; days of suffering confront me.”  (TLV)

“I am boiling on the inside, and it will not quit; yet the days of misery still come for me.”  (VOICE)

Exploring those various words has helped me become more aware of what it means to have a churning going on inside me.  For me, it usually comes when I feel out of control or stressed or discouraged or in despair.  And given all that is going on in our world, it’s so easy for me to experience any or all those things and the churning can get even worse. 

A psalmist once wrote:  “I would have despaired had I not believed that I would see the goodness of the Lord In the land of the living.” (Ps 27:13)   Despair is the complete loss or absence of hope and I can certainly testify that some serious churning happens inside me when I start to despair!

I would note that I don’t believe the psalmist was providing a quick fix for when we despair.  But he does state what we need to do when despair is upon us.  We need to believe that God is good.  While His goodness is not always so readily seen and easily understood, nonetheless it is still true that God is good all of the time.  And as we believe that God is good and cling to that truth, despair can melt away.

 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Excel Still More!

To excel, according to some of the meanings from a few dictionaries, is to surpass others, do extremely well, outdo, do something better than anyone else. In 1 Thessalonians 4:1, we find the phrase “excel still more”.   It prompts the question:  if we are already doing something better than anyone else, why would we be encouraged to do even more? Perhaps it would be helpful to see the wording that other translations use for “excel still more” to see why we would be encouraged to do so.  Here is a sampling: • abound more and more • to keep doing so more and more • but try even harder • live that way more and more. • that you progress even more. • that you increase more and more in how you ought to walk Maybe it would also be helpful to see some other verses where the word “excel” is used: “Now in Joppa there was a disciple named Tabitha (which when translated means Dorcas); this woman was excelling in acts of kindness and charity which she did habitually.”...
Post a Comment
Read more

Value Proposition

Value proposition:  it’s a marketing statement that summarizes why a consumer should buy a product or use a service.  It should clearly and concisely communicate what customers can gain from selecting a particular brand over that of its competitors. In a value proposition, you don’t want your product to be viewed as being worth less than what your competitors offer.   But even worse, in a bit of a quirk of how letters and spaces can fall, if you take out the space between “worth” and “less”, you get “worthless”, which means something of no value.   If that word is used in conjunction with how your product is viewed by customers, it’s a word that will likely kill your brand. In the book of Philippians, the Apostle Paul, in a sense, communicated some value propositions. In chapter three, he starts off with describing the value of some things that many considered as extremely valuable in that day and age.   They had to do with status and achievement in the reli...
Post a Comment
Read more

Open Immediately

The envelope had a specific command prominently printed on the outside.  It said “Open Immediately”. Immediately normally means now or without waiting; without interval of time. The envelope also had a company name prominently printed on the outside.  It was “Endurance”. Endurance normally is t he ability to sustain a prolonged effort or activity; the ability to keep doing something difficult, unpleasant, or painful for a long time. There are times when we want God to respond immediately, as without interval of time: “ But you, O Lord , do not be far off! O you my help, come quickly to my aid!”  (Ps 22:19). And there are other times when we are glad that God responds slowly, as in sustained over a long time:  “And he passed in front of Moses, proclaiming, “The Lord , the Lord , the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger , abounding in love and faithfulness,” (Ex 34:6) Intentional or not, the printing on that envelope was a contradiction in te...
Post a Comment
Read more