Have you ever witnessed a holy work of God with your own eyes? I am not speaking figuratively or metaphysically, but literally. I had a front row seat to such an event during a recent Moody Radio visit to Peru with Wycliffe Bible Translators.
Truthfully, there was nothing that spoke of deity in the cramped office where we stood vying for space with boxes and supplies. There was nothing that hinted at the supernatural in the window that looked out upon Huancayo's gray streets.
Huddled in front of a computer monitor were four jacketed men and women (it was cold). On the screen, via Skype, the easy smile of Rick Floyd brought a special warmth to the room. A linguistic professor at Biola, Rick serves as a translation consultant for Wycliffe. From his home in California, he coached and critiqued a translation of 2 Samuel chapter 1 in the Wanca Quechua language.
The four Wanca linguists at our end had given enormous time and talent to this translation and I was handed a print out of the first few verses. The dialogue between Rick and the Wanca linguists was animated, gestures flying everywhere accompanied by a frequent nodding of heads.
They were checking and double checking grammar, context, flow, as well as “holes” in the overall reading. Had cultural issues been properly addressed? Was the translation faithful?
An unfamiliar feeling settled over me watching the give and take. This was a rare and privileged moment to which I had no right. My eyes were witnessing nothing less than a sacred scene—the authoritative Word of God showing itself in consonants and vowels and nouns and verbs that had never previously uttered its life-changing message.
Truly, the writer of Hebrews was correct when he said, “The Word of God is Living and Active.”
As for me, I’m in awe of the work God is doing in and through Wycliffe Bible Translators.