I got an email update from friends in Cameroon today. They talked of how difficult it is to communicate with people from totally foreign culture. Talking in Baka is hard enough, but even when they communicate in French, they come away confused.
As I was reading in Isaiah this morning, I felt the same way. The words made sense, but I knew I wasn't really getting the full gist of the passage. I began to think about how my understanding of the scripture is tainted by the culture that I live in. I am not Hebrew, and I don't think like a Hebrew, so I don't fully understand all of the context of many Biblical passages in the same way that the original audience did. Soon, I will be trying to communicate scriptural truths to yet another culture with a completely different contextual understanding of the way things work. In some ways, I am sure that the Baka will have a purer and more complete understanding of scripture. However, there will be obstacles to hurdle as I try to take what I have learned, lift it from my cultural foundation and lay it back down in front of the Baka.
Thank God that He is bigger than our ability to communicate!!!
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