3/19/17
ON PICKING RANDOM VERSES TO OBTAIN GUIDANCE
A young man named Sam was sitting home alone one evening lamenting his loneliness. As he wondered what he could do about his sad state, the thought occurred to him to seek advice from the Bible. So he searched around the house until he found a copy of the Bible, then he sat on the sofa and leaned over the coffee table.
He thought for a few minutes on what might be the best way to go about this. He wasn't familiar enough with the Scriptures to be able to find any passages on dating. And he didn't want to have to read through the whole thing.
At last he settled on a plan -- he would hold the Bible upright with its back on the table then let the sides go so that the book would fall open wherever it would. Then without reading any of the text, he would place his finger at random somewhere on one of the two pages. Finally, he would read the verse chosen and apply it as best he could to his situation.
He just knew that God would somehow guide the book and guide his finger in order to give him the right message. He also decided that if a verse didn't give a reading that easily answered his question, he would first try to extrapolate the verse further and stretch the reading to gain some sensible meaning from it. But if it couldn't be squeezed to
say anything relevant then he would repeat the verse selection process a second time.
So first he asked his question out loud, "Will I ever find a girlfriend?" Then with a quick mutter of, "Lord, help me", he began his experiment.
He set the Bible with its spine on the coffee table and supported it with the fingertips of each hand on the two flaps. Then letting go carefully, so it would fall open rather than just flop to one side, he watched with satisfaction as the first step unfolded as planned -- the Bible lay open at approximately its middle.
Next he positioned his hand above the book, let his hand begin moving in a circle above the pages, and closed his eyes as his pointer finger dropped down to stab a verse.
With great anticipation he opened his eyes and leaned forward. Ahh! His finger was pointed right as Isaiah 55:12. He read the verse and found, "You shall go out with Joy!"
He thought, "Good! This is very clear. Now, who do I know? Oh! There's a girl named Joy in my class at school. I'll ask her out. And if she starts to say, ‘No', I'll just tell her that it's been ordained by God that she go out with me." So with much expectation he continued making his plans and dreaming of the happiness that would soon be his.
The next afternoon he was back on his sofa, in front of his coffee table and Bible, looking very dejected. Joy had turned him down. Then when he tried to explain about the Bible, she had laughed at him and called him a "looney".
He was dejected. How could his plan, which was so perfect, so inspired, have failed him? He must have misunderstood something. Maybe it meant a different girl named Joy. Maybe he didn't ask the right question. Maybe he wasn't supposed to ask a question. Maybe ... something! All he could think to do was to try again.
Once again he positioned the Bible on the little table and spoke aloud, "Lord, what do you want me to do?", then he let the Bible fall open and he dropped his finger on the page.
As he looked down he saw he had chosen the text Matthew 27:5; which reads, "Then Judas went out and hanged himself."
Sam jumped back from the book with a startled expression. He thought to himself, "Surely God doesn't want me to do that!!"
He didn't like the thought that this message might be for him, so he began making excuses. "That verse specifically says ‘Judas', so it can't be for me", he said, forgetting the rules he had made for himself that he must apply the verse to his own situation no matter how
much he would have to stretch it. But this instruction was just too much; he thought there must be something wrong. He would try one more time.
Sam's hands trembled as he once again held the Bible to fall open. He repeated his question, "Lord, what should I do?" He then let the book fall and he quickly chose a verse.
Looking at it he found the verse was Luke 10:37, which reads, "Go thou and do likewise!"
His heart sank. There was no question about it. According to his own rules he had to apply this to himself. So putting the Bible away and straightening the table, he did the only thing he could do -- Sam decided this method of seeking advice wasn't for him! He would get one of his classmates to fix him up with a date.
* (This story is derived from a joke heard long ago from an unknown source. However, this version of the tale is unique; to the best of our knowledge.)
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