Naturally, this sometimes produces silly results. For example, when I tried this just now, the third passage that came up when I refreshed the page was "You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor (Exodus 20:16)." Which is clearly not silly, spiritually! But it did nothing to address my need for a little hug tonight.
Yeah, I know. It is very silly indeed. He would certainly chastise me about this game if I were using it as a substitute for real, intimate, scripture-guided conversation with Him. Which I'm not.
Nevertheless, from time to time the results really are just what I need to hear. It's almost as though -- if I can say this without losing all credibility -- He sometimes deigns to meet me in this childish game, just so He can give me that little hug.
Here are four of the six verses that came up when I played this game a few minutes ago:
But the Lord is faithful, and He will strengthen and protect you from the evil one.
(2 Thessalonians 3:3)
The Lord will fight for you while you keep silent. (Exodus 14:14)
‘...For I know the plans that I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope. ...’ (Jeremiah 29:11)
"...He who has My commandments and keeps them is the one who loves Me; and he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and will disclose Myself to him." (John 14:21)
Oh, all right, so they do tend to choose fairly encouraging "random" verses. But the first three above are clearly different facets of a similar message -- the very message I needed to hear tonight. The theme of the fourth "random" verse is different, but it's at least as encouraging as the other three, because it addresses HOW all these good things can come about in one's day-to-day existence: by means of an ever-deepening relationship with Jesus!
Don't get me wrong, I am not recommending this as a way of discerning God's will or a way of getting to know Him. At most, the results I got tonight were just a tiny nod of encouragement. But I am rather tickled that the Lord occasionally meets me in this silly game. And that He apparently has no qualms about hanging out with us where we are, to remind us of who He is and how much He cares.
One more. It took me three "refreshes" to get to this, but what a great thought to end the night with. I'm reading "him" as "her" here and taking "from far away" to mean "from way out there on the World Wide Web." ;) --
[T]he Lord appeared to him from far away.
I have loved you with an everlasting love;
therefore I have continued my faithfulness to you.
(Jeremiah 31:3, ESV)
(Thanks, Lord. I needed that.)