I feel like sharing something that I've learned while I've been here. (I know, you were starting to wonder if I was learning anything, since all I talk about are travels and food.) I was actually already working on this in my own time, and then it got assigned yesterday in German class as homework. What fun. :)Well... I got / we had to translate a portion of Scripture from the German into English. Here is my passage as I translated it (with my very own brain, dictionary, and understanding!). It's translated from my copy of the German Bible, Luther translation.
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Psalm 63: 2-7
God, you are my God, for whom I search (or to whom I look). My soul thirsts or covets after you, my whole person longs for you from a dry, wasted land, where there is no water.Therefore I look for you in your holiness– I want gladly to see your might and kingliness.Because your goodness is better than life, my lips praise you.Therefore I will praise you my life long and in your name I will lift up my hands.This is my heart’s joy and delight, if with a cheerful mouth I can praise you. When I lie in my bed, then I think on you; when I lie awake, I reflect on you.
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There are two particular words of interest here (for me). First is Herrlichkeit, which I've translated "kingliness." There's really no good English word for this. I suppose it basically translates "lord-like-ness," but it holds so much more meaning than that. It holds ideas of lordliness, kingliness, majesty, glory, splendidness, marvelousness, royalty. We have no single word in the English language, that I know of, to describe something so majestic as our God. This human limitation (in comparison to a glorious God) excites me.
The second word I'm interested in is Sinnen, translated "reflect." I believe... from just my own personal dictionary-searching (so don't hold me to this)... that that word is related to the noun Sinn, which means "sense" or "meaning." So a verb form of this, used as I've seen it used, would seem to mean something like "to search for or see sense or meaning." So then - to "reflect" on God, here, might literally mean to reflect on the sense and meaning of God and all that He is. Considering that so many people today are so eagerly searching for sense or meaning, that excites me, too.
Does it excite you?
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