Bible translators for a Deaf community in a war-torn country wrestle with suffering and faith.
In a region all too familiar with strife, war is an everyday reality. News reports from the frontlines consistently pierce the hearts of the Gali* people. A particularly brutal attack recently took the lives of numerous reserve soldiers, leaving dozens of children orphaned.
In the wake of this tragedy, the Gali Sign Language team worked through Exodus 14–17, which recounts Israel’s deliverance from Egypt, the miraculous provision of manna and water in the desert, and victory over an enemy army. As the team studied the passages, preparing to translate and film them for their hurting community, a question lingered over them: Where is this victorious God?
For the Gali Deaf, sign language Scripture has been out of reach for most of their lives. When the translation project began in 2019, people were hungry for access. And interacting with understandable Scripture for the first time is often when the struggle of faith begins—when we are called to wrestle with matters of faith and grow in the knowledge and grace of Christ.
As the Gali Deaf watch sign language Scripture videos, they grapple with a biblical narrative that, while not always offering easy answers for their own circumstances, invites them to know God personally.
“While our team was filming these verses from Exodus, all of us in Gali-land were experiencing the ups and downs of faith in the midst of war,” the translator explains. “In Exodus 17:7 … the people ask, ‘Is God in our midst or not?’”
The translator answers that question himself with confidence: “The stories in these chapters solidify our strength—that God is always with us.”
To the Gali team, Exodus is more about who the Lord is than what He can do. “We have a Rock,” the translator writes. “The stories of the Scripture acquaint us with a God who has never faltered. God is bringing us through a journey, and in each challenge, we rise to a new level of faith.”
According to DOOR International, less than 2 percent of Deaf people worldwide identify as Christian. The hope of the Bible translation movement is that all people everywhere will be able to access Scripture in their heart language and know God through His Word. Pray for the Gali Deaf as they navigate trials and receive Bible books in their heart language for the first time.
*Pseudonym used for security
