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1 Kings 10:6-7 Then she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard in my own land about your words and your wisdom. However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard." Great Day Coming Since my early school days I had read about the Grand Canyon. I knew that it ranges from 4 to 18 miles in width and more than a mile deep in places. Perhaps the m

Genesis 12:5 Then Abram took Sarai his wife and Lot his brother's son, and all their possessions that they had gathered, and the people whom they had acquired in Haran, and they departed to go to the land of Canaan. So they came to the land of Canaan. Obey All the Way Louis Cassels once wrote, "Obey . . . take up your cross . . . deny yourself . . . it all sounds very hard. It is hard. Anyone who tells you differently is peddling spiritual soothing syrup, not real Christianit

Read Genesis 17:17 Then Abraham fell on his face and laughed, and said in his heart, "Shall a child be born to a man who is one hundred years old? And shall Sarah, who is ninety years old, bear a child?" When John Paton was translating the Bible for a South Pacific island tribe, he discovered that they had no word for trust or faith. One day a native who had been running hard came into the missionary's house, flopped down in a large chair and said, "It's good to rest my whole

1 Kings 2:2-3 "I go the way of all the earth; be strong, therefore, and prove yourself a man. And keep the charge of the Lord your God: to walk in His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His judgments, and His testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn." The Key to Prosperity Many young people fantasize about the possibility of becoming a sports star. And little wonder. According to one source, Mi

Numbers 11:27-29 And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp." So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses' assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, "Moses my lord, forbid them!" Then Moses said to him, "Are you zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!" Zealous for What? How easy it is to misplace our zeal. Around 1420 A.D., "golfe" or "the Gouf" became so

Job 19:25 For I know that my Redeemer lives, and He shall stand at last on the earth. My Redeemer Lives Some years ago an article appeared in National Geographic magazine that told of a young man from Hanover, Pennsylvania, who was badly burned in a boiler explosion. To save his life, physicians covered him with 6,000 square centimeters of donor skin as well as sheets of skin cultured from a stamp-sized piece of his own unburned skin. A journalist later asked him, "Do you ev

Genesis 15:15-16 Now as for you, you shall go to your fathers in peace; you shall be buried at a good old age. But in the fourth generation [your descendants] shall return here, for the iniquity of the Amorites is not yet complete. The Patience of God For the most part, people are very impatient. The moment the stoplight turns green, the driver behind us invariably honks his horn. You can just see the frustration and impatience in the faces of those caught in a long line at t

Exodus 32:17-18 And when Joshua heard the noise of the people as they shouted, he said to Moses, "There is a noise of war in the camp." But [Moses] said: "It is not the voice of those who shout in victory, nor is it the voice of those who cry out in defeat, but the voice of those who sing that I hear." Deceived by the Noise Lost in the jungle, a man sought desperately to find his way to safety. His strength was ebbing fast. Suddenly he heard what he thought was a bell tolling

Read Job 1:9-10 So Satan answered the Lord and said, "Does Job fear God for nothing? Have You not made a hedge around him, around his household, and around all that he has on every side? You have blessed the work of his hands, and his possessions have increased in the land." Some years ago a group of educators decided to remove the chain-link fence from around their school's playground. They believed the fence promoted feelings of confinement and restraint. But then a curious

1 Samuel 24:6-7 And he said to his men, "The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my master, the Lord's anointed, to stretch out my hand against him, seeing he is the anointed of the Lord." So David restrained his servants with these words, and did not allow them to rise against Saul. And Saul got up from the cave and went on his way. The Lord's Anointed Many motorists have had at least one encounter with the people whom truckers call "smokies." Their official name is t

1 Kings 3:1 Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and married Pharaoh's daughter; then he brought her to the City of David until he had finished building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall all around Jerusalem. Unequally Yoked We often receive letters at Back to the Bible from heartbroken parents whose children were raised as Christians but have chosen to marry unbelievers. We also get letters from Christians who married outside the faith a

Joshua 9:3-6 But when the inhabitants of Gibeon heard what Joshua had done to Jericho and Ai, they worked craftily, and went and pretended to be ambassadors. And they took old sacks on their donkeys, old wineskins torn and mended, old and patched sandals on their feet, and old garments on themselves; and all the bread of their provision was dry and moldy. And they went to Joshua, to the camp at Gilgal, and said to him and to the men of Israel, "We have come from a far country

Read Genesis 18:2-3 So he lifted his eyes and looked, and behold, three men were standing by him; and when he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them, and bowed himself to the ground, and said, "My Lord, if I have now found favor in Your sight, do not pass on by Your servant." "Old Bill" was hired to sweep streets in a small town. During the hot days of July and August, Mrs. Brown on the corner got into the habit of taking him a glass of lemonade and a slice of cake.

1 Samuel 17:38-39 So Saul clothed David with his armor, and he put a bronze helmet on his head; he also clothed him with a coat of mail. And David fastened his sword to his armor, and he tried to walk, for he had not tested them. And David said to Saul, "I cannot walk with these, for I have not tested them." So David took them off. Be Yourself Students at Morningside High School knew Mr. Sullivan as a strict English teacher who would kick them out of class for talking. But on

Read 1 Samuel 20:3 Then David took an oath again, and said, "Your father certainly knows that I have found favor in your eyes, and he says, 'Do not let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved.' But truly, as the Lord lives and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death." Some people live on the edge because they choose to. They bungee jump, sky dive and engage in other extreme sports just for the thrill of it. Others live on the edge not by choice, but becaus

1 Kings 1:5-6 Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, "I will be king"; and he prepared for himself chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. (And his father had not rebuked him at any time by saying, "Why have you done so?" He was also very good-looking. His mother had borne him after Absalom.) Father Failure The sheriff's office in a Texas city once distributed a list of rules entitled "How to Raise a Juvenile Delinquent in Your Own Family."

Joshua 3:13 "And it shall come to pass, as soon as the soles of the feet of the priests who bear the ark of the Lord, the Lord of all the earth, shall rest in the waters of the Jordan, that the waters of the Jordan shall be cut off, the waters that come down from upstream, and they shall stand as a heap." Wet Feet Years ago visitors at one of the national mints were told by a guide that if they first dipped their hands in water, a ladle of molten metal could be poured over th

1 Kings 9:4-5 "Now if you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.'" A Solid Foundation A very short man wanted to drive a nail in his wall to hang a picture. He stood o

Job 9:2 "Truly I know it is so, but how can a man be righteous before God?" Righteous before God According to Parade magazine, the zoo in Copenhagen, Denmark, has put a human couple on display. Henrik Leh-mann and Malene Botoft live in a see-through cage in the primate display next to the baboons and monkeys. Their habitat has a living room with furniture, a computer, a television and a stereo. The kitchen and bedroom are part of the display. Only the bathroom is excluded fro

Esther 8:9-10 "So the king's scribes were called at that time, in the third month, which is the month of Sivan, on the twenty-third day; and it was written, according to all that Mordecai commanded. . . . And he wrote in the name of King Ahasuerus, sealed it with the king's signet ring, and sent letters by couriers on horseback, riding on royal horses bred from swift steeds." No Hurry There is an old fable that tells of three apprentice devils who came to earth to finish the

Genesis 25:8 , 11 Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people. And it came to pass, after the death of Abraham, that God blessed his son Isaac. And Isaac dwelt at Beer Lahai Roi. Pass It On A man's character often lives on long after he is gone. Take Jonathan Edwards, for example. He loved the Lord and taught his children to do the same. According to one estimate, he has had 929 descendants. Of these,

Exodus 18:2-5 Then Jethro, Moses? father-in-law, took Zipporah, Moses? wife, after he had sent her back, with her two sons, of whom the name of one was Gershom . . . and the name of the other was Eliezer . . . and Jethro, Moses? father-in-law, came with his sons and his wife to Moses in the wilderness, where he was encamped at the mountain of God. A Family Reunion Beau Arceneaux was 15 months old when he was kidnapped by his father and taken from Louisiana to live in Austin,

Deuteronomy 34:9 Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands on him; so the children of Israel heeded him, and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. Wisdom From Above Life is filled with predicaments that require wisdom. Two men were hiking when they spotted a mountain lion staring at them. One froze in his tracks, but the other sat down on a log, tore off his hiking boots, pulled a pair of running shoes from his backpack and hurrie

Genesis 18:17-19 And the Lord said, "Shall I hide from Abraham what I am doing, since Abraham shall surely become a great and mighty nation, and all the nations of the earth shall be blessed in him? For I have known him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him, that they keep the way of the Lord, to do righteousness and justice, that the Lord may bring to Abraham what He has spoken to him." Intimate Fellowship It's a shame, but some people think