Today’s Walk in the Word

Young man, I say to you, arise.               —Luke 7:14 It is unknown how many Jesus raised from the dead. We have a record of only three: a widow’s only son, a synagogue leader’s only daughter, and a pair of sisters’ only brother. Jesus didn’t raise them to compensate […]

Their own strength is their god.          —Habakkuk 1:11 God showed up out of the blue and commissioned Gideon to save Israel from their seven-year Midianite oppression. Talk about a lopsided fight—the Midianites had 135,000 soldiers; Gideon was able to round up 32,000: four to one odds. God told Gideon he had […]

Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.                             —James 4:7 Jesus answered each of Satan’s wilderness temptations with scripture: three temptations; three scriptures. Game over. Old Scratch glanced at the scoreboard and hightailed it for the Exit. Abraham, “the father […]

May you be blessed for your good judgment.                        —1 Samuel 25:33 Abigail was on a mission of damage control. Nabal, her rich, surly husband had hurled insults at David. Justifiably furious, David and 400 of his soldiers strapped on their swords and stormed toward […]

Give ear, O Lord, and hear.        —2 Kings 19:16 Sennacherib, king of Assyria, was on a map-altering campaign, savagely conquering kingdoms. In an arrogant letter to Hezekiah, king of Judah, he demanded unconditional surrender. Hezekiah counterattacked with an unusual move: “He went up to the temple of the Lord and spread [the […]

My times are in your hands.         —Psalm 31:15 In 1895, missionary Andrew Murray (1828–1917), suffering severe pain, wrote: “In time of trouble, say: “First, God brought me here. It is by His will I am in this strait place; in that I will rest. “Next, He will keep me in His […]

Look at the lilies . . . Solomon in all his glory was not dressed as beautifully as they are.                         —Luke 12:27 I was miffed; someone littered my landscape with a discarded garbage bag. Actually, it polluted no more than one percent of […]

[Love] keeps no record of wrongs.        —1 Corinthians 13:5 At the rehearsal dinner the night before the wedding, the father of the groom gave advice that would have made Dear Abby proud. He told about a football coach who kept the score on the lighted scoreboard all week when his team lost, […]

Love your neighbor as yourself.           —Mark 12:31 For renters, a notice from the landlord slipped under the door is unsettling. But for tenants of the Lunde Apartments in Seattle, it was an unexpected gift. Owners Kory Slastthaug and his wife Mickey decided to give everyone in the eleven-unit building a […]

[Jesus] did not come to be served, but to serve. —Mark 10:45 I recently presided at the funeral of one of the best men I’ve known—a quiet, humble man of servant spirit. Many of those who gathered for the service had a feeling of severe loss: he had touched their lives with warm friendship and […]