As I was breezing through the list of potential stories on Yahoo! Contributor, one of them caught my eye: “Inspirational Bible Verses.” Hmm, I thought, I can do this.
Love encouraging others. Check.
Love talking about the Bible. Check.
I opened the link and scanned the requirements.
Five to six inspirational Bible verses.
Oh dear.
I know more than five to six inspirational verses; the Bible is full of them. Choosing that few is like asking a little kid his or her favorite toy. Um, all of them? The one I’m playing with right now? It’s hard to choose. Nevertheless, after hemming and hawing and flipping-and re-flipping-through my Bible, I decided on the following. This list is by no means exhaustive (obviously), and when I look over this list in an hour, I will probably wish I had chosen different ones, but here it is. I hope you enjoy and find these as encouraging as I have.
“If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him.” -James 1:5
I cannot tell you how many times I have prayed this verse. One struggle that I have is knowing what to pray-after all, I have little desire to pray for something that God will not say “yes” to. But God promises to give wisdom to those who ask it, and He does not lie. I have prayed this verse for everything from confusing Bible passages to life decisions. And sooner or later-definitely when He wants to answer and not when I want Him to answer-He gives the wisdom that is needed. I prayed this verse when I was unsure of whether it was a sin to work on Sundays, and I prayed it three years later when I was about to rip my hair out trying to choose the right college. Both times He answered me, as well as the times in between. Just as a side note, though, before moving on, God promises wisdom to those who ask it, but not necessarily head-knowledge. Wisdom refers to knowing how to walk with God and have a relationship with Him. I have found from experience that God always gives wisdom, but sometimes the only answer to my head-knowledge questions is Himself. Which is much preferred.
“As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear him; for he knows how we are formed, he remembers that we are dust.” -Psalm 103:13-14
These verses, together with Isaiah 42:3, make me relax every time I read them. Even now I can feel myself unconsciously taking a deep breath and slowly letting it out. If you are reading this article, I want you to pause a moment and think. Don’t just read, but think. God knows how we are formed; He remembers that we are dust. Sometimes I cannot help but think that God must be disappointed in me. I imagine Him sitting up in heaven, shaking His head and sighing over how I sinned. In the same exact way. Again. But He knows. He knows that I am but dust. He knows that I sin and get tired and fall and fail. He knows. And He has compassion on me. He doesn’t leave me, doesn’t sigh at me, doesn’t shake His head at me, doesn’t give up on me. He disciplines me, and loves on me, and then picks me up so we can walk down the right path together.
“If his sons forsake my law and do not follow my statutes, if they violate my decrees and fail to keep my commands, I will punish their sin with the rod, their iniquity with flogging; but I will not take my love from him, nor will I ever betray my faithfulness. I will not violate my covenant or alter what my lips have uttered.” -Psalm 89:30-34
And we are in Psalms again. And for a similar reason. In case you did not know, I sin. A lot. And I used to have a lot of insecurity issues related to sin-most of which this verse solved. Ever since I started really noticing my sin in high school, I became afraid of losing God’s love, and, more than His love, Himself. I was always afraid that that last sin was the last straw, and He would throw His hands up in the air and leave. Different people would try to reassure me with verses telling me that God loved me. But here was the issue: I knew God is holy, and He hates sin, and He will punish sin. So, for a long time, I balanced on a mental knife’s edge, always asking whether God would love me enough to forgive the latest sin or be holy enough to punish me and leave. This question tore me up for a long time until I found these verses. What I love about these verses is how they so clearly show both sides of God: His love and His holiness. These verses reassure me, because it says that God promises to punish my sin-not that I want Him to punish my sin, necessarily, but it would worry me if He didn’t (see Hebrews 12:5-6). At the same time, these verses also say that God promises to never stop loving me and to never violate His covenant, which is the one I have with Him through Jesus’s death that I am His and He is mine and nothing can change that.
“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will rest in the shadow of the Almighty.” -Psalm 91:1
This verse is possibly one of my favorites ever. I think I love the imagery: resting in the shadow of the Almighty. It gives me chills every time I read it. I want to rest in God’s shadow, to be so close I could touch Him if I reached out my hand. I want to actually see His face and hear His voice. Sometimes I want it so much that my insides quite literally ache. I love this verse, because it reminds me that I can have that intimacy with God, that if I dwell in His shelter, I can rest in His shadow.
“I will give them a heart to know me, that I am the LORD. They will be my people, and I will be their God, for they will return to me with all their heart.” -Jeremiah 24:7
Mmm. Like the last verse, this one gives me chills. First of all, I just find it comforting that God promises to change my heart, because I know it would not happen if the burden of change rested on my shoulders. Maybe that is the reason I love this verse so much. Read it and feel the weight of what He is saying. I will give them. They will be my people. I will be their God. Cool, right? I mean, who but God would have the guts to say that? And who but God would be able to make good His word?
I hope you enjoyed these verses and found them encouraging. And so I will leave you with this last one:
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” -Romans 15:13
Blue Letter Bible. Blue Letter Bible. 1996-2011. 15 Sep 2011.
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