Bible Roulette
Have you ever done it? Have you ever flipped your Bible open to a random verse hoping that God might meet you in the flipping and the pointing and spill a word for your life?
Dallas Willard, in his book Hearing God comments on this practice of picking random verses. In this practice…
…we see both the desperate urgency and the superstitious character of human efforts to get a word from God, especially a word on what is going to happen and what we should do about it. If necessary some people are prepared to force such a word from him or someone else. Like King Saul many of us have our own versions of a witch of Endor. (p. 33)
I had an embarrassing experience several weeks ago in which I attempted to demonstrate the inappropriateness of Bible Roulette in a high school chapel. Right in the middle of the chapel, I randomly opened my Bible to a verse (Jeremiah 2:3) and read it out loud. Relatively unbeknownst to the 500 high schoolers, the verse was all too appropriate to the context in which I’d set it. I had been telling the students how the Spirit doesn’t speak. And the Spirit spoke. To me, if not to them. Through Bible Roulette.
I told this story to a colleague. After explaining Bible roulette, she said, “Some people have come to seminary using that method.”
So, what do you think? What do you think about Bible Roulette and Saul’s witch of Endor? What do you think about looking for signs and words from God in these ways? Was Gideon’s setting out of the fleece a better way of getting a word from God? Was his methodology simply descriptive, or prescriptive for our own discernment?
I had to laugh when I read this post because I will admit I have definetely played “Bible Roulette”. Did I actually take it seriously? I don’t know.
I felt like I was being called into ministry as a pastor a couple years ago. I saw God working in my life, I felt his calling and people around me were confirming this calling in my life. There were events in my life that seemed to perfect line up and point me to the vocation of pastor. I began to freak out. I didn’t know if I wanted this and it was all there so in desperation I cried out to God, “Fine! You want me to do this, then SHOW ME!” and I whipped my Bible of the shelf, opened it and pointed to a random passage with my eyes closed. I opened to a verse in Matthew 9…you know the one that states, “the harvest is plenty but the works are few”? I gave up and surrendered. Now, I would never base a decision soley on this game of Bible Roulette. I looked for other things in my life that pointed me toward ministry. However, I think that maybe God works in these ways. God knows how humans tick. And maybe through his grace he comes down to our level and as ridiculous as it may be sometimes, speaks to us through his word in this way.
Never played it, never will…sorry, I just don’t get Bible roulette. I don’t mean to diss those who have tried it and been blessed by it…but why chance it? What about the poor guy who got upset about crises in his life and in desperation did some roulette-style Bible flipping of his own…imagine his amazement when he landed on the following phrases…
1. Matthew 27:5b – “…then he went away and hanged himself.”
And then 2. Colossians 3:23 – “Whatever you do, work at it with all your
heart…”
And THEN 3. Ecclesiastes 5:4 — “When you make a vow to God, do not delay in fulfilling it. He has no pleasure in fools; fulfill your vow.”
Ok, so maybe that’s one of those quasi-real “preacher’s stories” (which supposedly did involve grace, in that the guy ended up laughing so hard that life seemed much more bearable afterwards!). But here’s my point: why try risky roulette (and hope for the rare, one-of-a kind real moments of guidance that God can and does provide, or lean on a one-off example like the fleece, or cling desperately to Romans 8:28 when things really crash and burn as a result of the roulette) when there are far better ways of discerning God’s leading?
I think Willard nailed it in the quote you mentioned, Heidi. I especially like the title of his book (Hearing God) which reminds me of the importance of listening for _God’s voice_ instead of superstitiously struggling to figure out _God’s will_. It’s somewhat like the scene you’ve likely seen during the football games during the Thanksgiving holiday (I think I heard this analogy from a Preaching Today CD)…in between plays, as he decides on his next move, the QB holds his hand to the side of his helmet…not because he’s trying to shake off a sack-induced concussion headache but because he’s focusing on listening to a small radio-speaker in the helmet, which transmits the voice of the offensive coordinator in his booth high above the action…his is the voice to depnd on, since he’s the one who can much more easily see the big picture, identify opportunities and danger zones, and then provide guidance accordingly.
Or, consider the “stool” analogy we discussed a while ago…sure, the sturdiest stools only need three legs, but would three random-sized legs stuck randomly into the seat do any good? I sure wouldn’t want to sit on it! In the same way, I wouldn’t want to base decisions on random Bible passages.
Take good care, everyone!
A closing comment from Dallas Willard - same book - Hearing God…
“Of course God is so great that he sometimes does use almost anything you can imagine for his purposes int he life of a person who is sincerely seeking him. Even truly superstitious methods are not beyond his forbearance and use. But that does not certify them as methods chosen by him for the spiritual life” (p. 60).
Good stuff.
Well lets get back to basics here. God WILL NOT be limited! He will get his point across in whatever way He can! His will is always done. If done in faith anything is for our good. If you have faith that whatever you open to will apply….then it is so! And being that the entire bible is His word, how could anything you open to be bad? The bible is not just any book! It is ALIVE!!! Even if you just began reading in any spot eventually something will have meaning! It will stand out amongst all else and you will know that it was meant for you! i’m pretty sure God is never opposed to us opening the bible in whichever way we choose as long as we open it!!! and open it with FAITH!!! i personally have played roulette one time. God usually points quite directly to the word He needs me to read, but on one occasion i was so excited i was unable to truly listen. i just said “God I can’t hear you right now, forgive me my excitement is too strong but i need to hear your word” and….i opened to something so relevent my heart lept into my stomach! so….GOD WILL NOT BE LIMITED!!!! which…is AMAZING and…why i LOVE HIM so much!
I can tell you that calling it “Bible Roulette” is akin to blaspheme in my book.
I have seen it work hundreds of times. I have used it often, but cautiously. The key to my belief in it is this.
Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word. The word is not the Bible as we know it. The word being described there is the actual living breath of God, blowing into our lives.
Paul says we should all seek to give prophecies. No I don’t use the Bible as a magic eight ball, but when I need discernment, and I have asked God for guidance, I know that if I feel the leading of the Holy Spirit I can open my Bible at random, and it will fall open miraculously flip open to the exact place that I needed to hear at that time.
Just this morning I flipped it open to Gen 12:1-3, when I was facing persecution and was standing on faith. Oddly enough my persecution was over a land and lifestyle change that I was trying to seek God on. Gen 12:1-3, jumped out at me on the page and confirmed what the Holy Spirit was telling me to go buy land. But to further confirm it, I was studying Obadiah, 15 minutes later and the preface of the book referred me back to Gen 12:1-3.
How did I find Obadiah? Well my wife has left me because I have become to spiritual and it is cramping her style, I asked God if I should fight her for custody or not, and felt the leading to open the good book and see what was in there. The book fell open to Obadiah, which I had never read and knew nothing about. Its a 2 page book that starts off with “Its time to go to battle against her” Her being the people of Edom, which are Esau’s people, and my wife’s family are a very shall we say “hairy” bunch, where I am more like Jacob in that I have very little hair on my body. Further the book goes on to describe how they live in the mountains among the stars, in the high place. My wife has gone to live with her parents on High-Point drive, which is on a mountain, on a very high spot, and at night you can see the stars because it is so far from the city.
Who is to question the workings of the prophet, except the prophet himself? I have seen prophecy be given to me through radio commercials and even from my own enemies who spoke the prophecy almost against their own will. How do you know when it is God? Well if you are filled with the Holy Spirit and sensative to his urgings and discernment, then you know.
If you want your “Bible Roulette” to work, then you have to have faith that it will work, and you also need to be sensative to the spirit as to when it is time to use it. And when you read the scriptures they should be read as revelation to apply to your situation. Do I really believe that God has a land for me that is promised? Yes. Does that mean I am Abraham re-incarnated? No. Do I really believe God will bless those who bless me in my ministry and curse those who curse me? Yes I do. Does this mean I can cavelierly go through life as though I were better than everyone? No. Blessed are the meek.
As a final thought on the subject. We are told to come to God like children, innocent and humbled in our in-ability to understand the workings of God. Just like Tawna says so eloquently above God will not be limited. Stop trying to put him in your box.
God will use whatever means necessary to speak to us, and sure I’d prefer an angel of the lord would just appear right here in the room with me and I could have a conversation, but if that happened, then I would never listen to anything unless an Angel appeared. God is teaching me the more subtle ways of his spiritual communication, and as long as I continue to seek, I will find, and as long as I continue to ask, it shall be given.