Making a Bible verse my own
I love the Lord. I love Bible verses. But I have to admit that it’s a struggle for me to read a portion of the Bible, deep dive into its context and meaning, and find understanding and application of the words. I’m not proud of this fact. And I know that it’s my sin and laziness that cause me this struggle.
Fortunately, God has given this world the gift of poets, musicians, authors, worship leaders, friends and family who make the process easier. They share their interpretations of scripture which help me to grow in faith as I study scripture.
Today, as I was reviewing a draft of a craft project I was working on, I was led to look into the phrase, “Take joy in the journey.” The first thing I remembered about this phrase was a song from the late 80’s by Michael Card.
Joy in the Journey
There is a joy in the journey,
There’s a light we can love on the way.
There is a wonder and wildness to life,
And freedom for those who obey.
All those who seek it shall find it,
A pardon for all who believe.
Hope for the hopeless and sight for the blind
To all who’ve been born of the Spirit, And who share incarnation with him;
Who belong to eternity, stranded in time,
And weary of struggling with sin.
Forget not the hope
That’s before you,
And never stop counting the cost.
Remember the hopelessness when you were lost?
Source: LyricFind Songwriters: John W Thompson / Michael J. Card
A beautiful song that I remember when I hear the phrase. It led me to want to know what Bible verse inspired the song. That was a little more difficult to alight on.
Bible verse inspiration
In reality, the song, and the phrase, appear to be amalgams of several different concepts across scripture. St. Paul, for example, wrote in Philippians 3:14: “I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.” To me, this suggests joy at reaching the end of the journey, not necessarily the journey itself, though throughout chapters 3 and 4 of Philippians, he describes rejoicing and finding contentment in his life journey, including his sufferings, and being content, no matter the circumstances.
A Google search for “joy in the journey Bible verses” brought up several suggestions, but ultimately, for me, Psalm 16:11 felt like it was the closest to the concept: “You make known to me the path of life; in your presence is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (New International Version – NIV) I read other variations of the verse, from the King James Version (KJV), the New International Readers Version (NIRV). Ultimately, however, I felt the need to make the verse my own. Here is my take on the passage:
Craft project
The work that started my scripture study today? A t-shirt blank on which I wanted to add a simple heat transfer vinyl saying. What started the day as:
Has become the simpler, yet more conceptual:
Do you get it, or is it too conceptual?
j-o-y in their separate, scripty font, are within the word journey – joy in the journey. These types of word play puzzles are favorites of mine. If you like word play puzzles like this, you can find some good ones here.
What about you?
Do you have a method for drawing meaning from scripture passages? I’d love to hear how you do it. Do you like this type of article? Please let me know. Are you interested in this t-shirt design, would you like the design or a t-shirt for yourself? Please feel free to share your thoughts using the form below.
Until we meet again, God’s blessings.
