OK, it's called a life verse. It is the Bible passage God gave me more than forty years ago when Harriet and I were struggling through some tough decisions about life, careers, and next chapters. Late one night there was one of those old movies on television, long before cable. A man had cancer and was wrestling with treatment options. In frustration one evening he reached into the bed-side table and extracted the Gideon Bible that was usually there then. He threw it open and put his finger down. He read Psalm 40: 1-3 in the King James Version---
I waited patiently for the Lord; and he inclined unto me, and heard my cry.
2 He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet
upon a rock, and established my goings.3 And he hath put a new song in my mouth,
even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord.
Honestly, I don't remember the outcome of the movie, the treatment plan the man and his family chose. What I do remember is how those verses answered the wavering uncertainty of our decision making process. Harriet and I agree that in that instant our Gracious God lifted us out of the horrible pit of indecision, the miry clay of hesitancy, and gave us the strength to answer what we have learned was God's call on our lives. It was a turning point we'll never regret.
Looking back, it reminds me that the human species always needs reliable truth to stand on when life currents are swift and faltering. Biblical truth places exclamation points when life's question marks leave us guessing. In his high priestly prayer Jesus said, "Sanctify them in the truth, your word is truth" (John 17: 17, ESV). And, we all need something solid to stand on when the winds and currents are so unpredictable.
Those Bible verses have been hanging over my desk for forty years. They are my life verses. They steer me when the way is uncertain. A life verse or verses will give you that direction too. Ask God to reveal one to you. Now.