Whenever I have the honor of teaching women on a biblical topic, I embrace the opportunity with a measure of enthusiasm that is always coupled with a slight trepidation. I so desire to honor God in the explanation of His Word and yet, I’m not always clear or accurate enough.
I hope you are familiar with me enough to know that my intention is always to honor the Lord and to lead you through the Scriptures in a way that is true to the Bible. But, sadly, I’m not perfect at it. In fact, trusted mentors have needed to remind me on occasion that the only perfect book is the Bible, and that I need to give myself a bit of grace whenever my own writing falls somewhere short in any way.
I’m trying. But, honestly, I have a hard time accepting this reality sometimes, since I take the ministry platform that God has given me so seriously.
Here’s why I mention it.
The Breathe Bible study was recently released this fall. I so enjoyed my own personal study of the Sabbath and how incorporating margin in our lives can bring a measure of health and wholeness that many of us lack. I have been thrilled to share the study with you in hopes that it will open your eyes to this age-old principle in a brand new way. I still hope that it will.
But I was recently made aware of a concern regarding a reference that I make on pages 14-15. Here, near the beginning of the workbook, I reference a Jewish scholar and his take on Genesis 2:2. His view is not necessarily mine. It is his. I purposefully presented it in the study because it gives us a focused view on the significance that is placed on the Sabbath in the Jewish culture. My goal in sharing it was not to affirm my agreement with every implication of his statement (nor with his entire theological stance on other biblical topics), but only to get our mental wheels turning as we broached the topic of our Bible study together. In any case, I was not clear enough about this distinction and for that, I apologize.
I always value the emails that I receive and am so grateful for the accountability that they provide me and this ministry as we seek to stay true to the Scriptures. And so, as always, I looked into the concern. After much prayer and discussion with my editing team at LifeWay, I’ve decided to make changes to this portion of the study – changes that I am praying will help to smooth over any doubt I may have caused regarding the creation account described in Genesis and the very first Sabbath day.
Unfortunately, the changes will not appear in the workbooks until the next run of the BreatheBible study is reprinted, so I wanted to make sure those of you who currently have the books are able to access this change. Please download the attachment. If you are a Bible study group leader, feel free to print the document and disseminate it to those you are serving in the study of God’s Word. Shucks, tell your attendees to staple the pages right into their workbooks if you’d like. Hopefully this will help you to deal with any raised eyebrows.
I am eternally grateful to a wonderful woman named Krystal from Texas who emailed me initially with this concern. The grace she extended regarding this matter was more of an encouragement to me than she may ever really know. I am unbelievably appreciative of her, and my soul was bolstered by her willingness to see my intention. Tears formed in my eyes as I read her email to me explaining how she addressed the issue with her Bible study group:
. . . even though I don’t know [Priscilla] personally, I know her heart, I trust her . . . she would not intentionally try and mislead anyone with Scripture. Even if something is flawed, for whatever reason, we can still gain wisdom from it, and I fully believe we are together for a reason . . . and in spite of a mistake Priscilla may or may not make, or how bad I may mess things up . . . God will fill in that gap and accomplish what He wants in each of us.
Her words were like a soothing balm to this daughter of God who . . . well . . . needed grace to calm the knots in her stomach about the whole thing. Gosh, I’m so grateful that God fills in the gaps. For me. For you. For all of us.
Thank you, Krystal. I can’t wait to hug your neck one day.
I’ve been so grateful for the kindness you’ve extended to me as I’ve grown and matured during nearly twenty years of ministry. I hope you’ll be able to offer it again. I am humbled that the Lord would allow me to serve Him and you, and I ask that you would pray for me as I seek to do it well . . . for the glory of the Lord.
I’m certainly praying for you. Always.
Bless you richly,
Priscilla
