Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Bambara proverb:
(I don't have the original text this week. See below for the translation.)

(translation) God provides for the blind vulture.

“Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they?” Matthew 6:26 NIV

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Tuareg proverb:
Ta n-ameri salah, ta n-amiksan sadsa.

(translation) The (word) of a friend makes you cry; the (word) of an enemy makes you laugh.

“Well meant are the wounds a friend inflicts, but profuse are the kisses of an enemy.” Proverbs 27:6 NIV

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:
Nebbon bi ci dënnu tuabéer, ba tax ko tëbëntu, mungi ci xàbban te mu ne tekk ak moom

(translation) The hump of animal fat which hangs from the chest of the ram, and incites it to manifest its power is also found on the steer, which however remains calm.

(explanation) Modesty is something to be valued. When one boasts of something whether it be knowledge, strength or fortune, there is always someone else who has far more yet without feeling the need to boast or show up the vanity of others.

“This is what the LORD says: "Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the LORD, who exercises kindness, justice and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight," declares the LORD.” Jeremiah 9:23-24 NIV

Reprinted in part with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:

Balaa ngaa dundal ña ca mbedd ma nga dundal ña ca kër ga.

(translation) Before you feed those on the street, feed those in your house.
(alternate translation) Charity begins at home.

“If anyone does not provide for his relatives, and especially for his immediate
family, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.” 1 Timothy 5:8 NIV

Reprinted in part with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:

Waxi mag doyula weddi.

(translation) One should not contradict the words of old men.

“Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your
father....” 1 Timothy 5:1 NIV

Reprinted in part with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:

Nit ku nekk àddina war na bàyyi xel nawleem.

(translation) Everyone in this world had better pay attention to his or her peer.

“You shall not covet your neighbor's house. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or his manservant or maidservant, his ox or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.” Exodus 20:17 NIV

In this example, the Wolof proverb and scripture are in sharp contrast. The local mindset is very much set on "keeping up with the Jonses". It seems somewhat appropriate for the Christmas season that we remind ourselves to set our minds on Christ and not the material aspects of the holiday.

Reprinted in part with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Belated Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Fulfulde proverb:

Munyal deefan hayre.

(translation) Patience can cook a stone.

Patience is also one of the key virtues in the Bible. God Himself is the God of patience (Romans 2:4 and 15:5; 2 Peter 3:9). In Ecclesiastes it is written that "patience is better than pride" (Ecclesiastes 7:8b). In the New Testament it is interesting to notice that patience is not only one of the nine fruits of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22), but also a virtue that every Christian must pursue (2 Peter 1:6). Believers are invited to imitate those who will "inherit what has been promised" through faith and patience (Hebrews 6:12). Patience is one of the values that a man or woman of God must pursue rather than the love of money (1 Timothy 6:11).

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Wolof proverb:

Nit ku nekk, juddoom a ko mag.

(translation) For every human being there is a superior birth.

“Just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Matthew 20:28 NIV

Every person is born with something higher than himself, ie. a destiny in life. Noted author David Maranz explains that this proverb means that there is more to a birth or to a person than the physical facts. That is, that crucially important, inherited, spiritual factors greatly affect and even determine all that an infant will become in life.

Reprinted with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Monday Proverb

(note from Thom: Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.)

Wolof proverb:

Tabaski du bés bu nekk.

(translation) Tabaski is not celebrated every day.

“Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself.” Hebrews 9:26 NIV

(Note: this past weekend was the Tabaski holiday here) One cannot have pleasure all the time. Not every day is a special occasion. Life consists both of moments of joy as well as pain. This proverb is often used by fathers on the days when they do not bring home any treats, and the children complain. Tabaski, when Muslims remember Abraham sacrificing his son (but in a very different, corrupted way than in the Christian Bible), is the most important annual celebration in West Africa, of similar importance to Christmas in the West. However, believers in Christ cannot lose sight of the crucial difference between the two holidays. Christmas points to a hope - the coming of one who would be the sacrifice for all. Tabaski, to its observers, serves to point out their continued state of being lost and needing continual blood sacrifices to even have a chance at Paradise.

Reprinted with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Monday Proverb

Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.

Bambara proverb:

• Jirikurun men o men ji la, a te ke bama ye.

(translation) No matter how long a log stays in the water, it doesn't become a crocodile.

This is one of the best known African proverbs and it exists in many different languages and cultures.

In certain ways we are called to change our lives. Jesus said, "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 18:3). This change requires a zeal, a commitment, a forward direction. Paul says, "But this one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the heavenly call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:13-14).

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Monday Proverb

(note from Thom: Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel.)

Wolof proverb:

Gàcce ak xamadi, laajul a ko indi.

(translation) Failing to ask brings shame and ignorance.

“You do not have, because you do not ask God.” James 4:2 NIV

Reprinted with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

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Monday Proverb

(note from Thom: I'd like to see this be a regular feature on mcmali.com. Proverbs have tremendous cultural value here and matching local proverbs with key scriptures is a wonderful tool to starting a conversation about the Gospel. What do you think? Do you want this to be a regular series?)

Wolof proverb:

Lu dul Yàlla, ag neen la.

(translation) What is not of God, is nothing.

“Unless the LORD builds the house, its builders labour in vain.” Psa 138:1 NIV

Reprinted with permission from "Wisdom of the Wolof Sages: A Collection of Proverbs translated and explained in English" by Dr. Richard Shawyer (c) 2009

Click here to read more!