Saved by the Memorized Word

Many years ago, when Chuck Swindoll’s children were still in school, his wife Cynthia stayed home with them while he flew to Canada for a full week of ministry. He was exhausted by Friday night, so he grabbed a hamburger at the hotel café and headed back to his room.

He said, “I can still hear my heels tap across the polished floor of the big rotunda-like lobby leading to the hotel elevators.” He pushed “up,” stepped into the empty elevator, and before the doors closed, two very attractive women walked in. He pushed “six” and asked, “Which floor would you like?”

In unison, they said, “Six would be fine.” Both smiled, looked at each other, and then one of them looked back at him with eyebrows raised and said, “How ‘bout it?”

He said, “Immediately something powerful happened within me. In the recesses of my mind, I recalled the words my mother had drilled into me as a little boy when she and I memorized Scripture together over the kitchen table. They were: ‘Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, this he will also reap’ (Galatians 6:7). I repeated those words slowly in my mind.

I quickly answered, “No thanks, I’m not interested.” Then the doors opened and he stepped out . . . alone.

Thank You, Lord, for Your powerful Word!

Turn my eyes away from worthless things; preserve my life according to your word” (Psalm 119:37).