Verse of the Day for July 12

A difficult conversation does not give you time to look things up. Your sister is crying, or your colleague has just raised his voice, and whatever you say next will come from what is already inside you.

That is the logic of Thy word have I hid in mine heart, that I might not sin against thee. Hiding is something done ahead of time. You store water before the dry season, not during it.

The man who wrote this was not careless. He had sought God With my whole heart, and still he prays, O let me not wander from thy commandments. Wholehearted people wander too, especially when they are hurt and want to win.

And he ends as a student: teach me thy statutes. Even with the word hidden in him, he knows he has more to learn. That is a good posture for a hard talk. Not the expert who is sure, but the learner who is listening.

Before you knock on that door, or return the call you have been avoiding, take one line of Scripture with you. Say it quietly in the corridor. Let it be the thing you reach for when the heat rises.

What you have stored is what you will speak when you are pressed.

Go into the hard conversation as a learner, not a judge.