My Favorite Verse

Several months ago a woman at our church texted me and asked for my favorite verse as she was making a collection of favorite verses. I thought for a moment and then sent it to her. She texted me back the following evening with a question I was half expecting: how did that become my favorite verse? Had I sent the correct reference? As I knew I had, I explained it to her in as great detail as one can in a text. It made sense to her then, and it got me to thinking. If that is my favorite verse, why do I sign my name with another one?

 

I added a verse to my signature over 25 years ago at a homeschool conference because that’s what everyone did. Somehow the kids who worked those conferences had taken to signing each other’s curriculum books. Like a homeschool version of the yearbooks we would never had. I noticed at the first conference I worked as that was becoming popular that almost everyone else included a Bible reference with their name. I knew by the next conference I needed one, too. So I chose Psalm 37:4. At the time it was a verse that meant a lot to me. But I always found it rather ironic that I added it under what could be called peer pressure…in at atmosphere when that was strongly discouraged.

 

After a while, it just became a habit. I still love Psalm 37:4, but over a decade later I would come across 2 Kings 6:6 during the lowest part of my life. If you reach for your Bible and look it up, yes, you will find it a very strange verse to find comfort in. But I had never felt more hopeless or helpless during that time, and the very fact that something that was impossible happened in 2 Kings 6:6 gave me the one foothold of hope I needed to keep going. It echoed in my head over and over during that period, and it has stayed with me ever since.

 

But, until a few months ago I don’t believe anyone has asked me my favorite verse since I was a teenager. And when asked, I immediately went to 2 Kings 6:6 which made me wonder why I still sign my name with Psalm 37:4. Habit? Because no one really looks at a signature anyway? Or maybe I just don’t want to explain? After months of thinking about it, though, I have decided I will change it. Even if no one looks at it. I do. And it’s a good reminder to me of my God who does impossible things.