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Bible Illustrations - A Divine Connection

Bible Illustrations - A Divine Connection

The Bible is a collection of 66 books, full of stories, poems, songs, and much more. Often, printed Bibles come with pictures to illustrate the stories and bring them to life. However, there are not very many illustrations that have been created for an African context…

Alan, our director, was in Kenya in June. While he was there, he met an artist called Gabriel who hadn’t had many opportunities to use his art for a while. He was considering giving it up. Instead, Alan encouraged Gabriel and connected him with an artist in Durban for inspiration and advice.

Once back in the offices, Alan told the story of Gabriel to the team. It just so happened that, that morning, I had been reading a long email conversation about the need for African Bible illustrations. I mentioned this as a potential option for Gabriel, and Alan passed on the message.

It turned out that Gabriel had experience illustrating Bible stories for his church many years ago. His response was, “I am surprised to feel my interest and curiosity rising up, and I am also equally surprised to find myself saying that I would be much interested to consider doing this kind of work since it touches on spiritual matters. It would be a great honour to be in a team that would make this kind of work happen. Part of my indecisiveness with doing "secular artwork" was my great desire to stay focused on spiritual matters and especially close to God's Word. Therefore, illustrating God's Word seems most interesting to me.”

Through divine connections, someone working in north Africa got in touch requesting to see some of Gabriel’s work. They are now talking and looking at whether Gabriel can create some illustrations for the Bible translations being done there. Even if this particular opportunity doesn’t work, Gabriel is now equipped and inspired to use His art for God. Praise God for His divine connections and how He calls people to fill the needs.

By Helen van der Walt

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