You probably have your list.

If you have been a follower of Jesus for years and have read the Bible through several times, some scriptures more than others have grabbed your attention and held your heart and occupied your mind.

These are mine.

Why twelve? I’m not sure. This Saturday morning, lying awake in the pre-dawn hour before walking on the Mississippi River levee, this was on my mind. Twelve such scriptures in the Old Testament and an equal number in the New. (Note: That was the plan originally. But, once we got into the Gospels, it became apparent that it would be impossible to limit the list that severely. So, we are giving 12 favorites–texts that have branded us!–from the Gospels and 12 more from the rest of the New Testament.)

What follows are texts that identify me, define me, explain and motivate and direct me. They fascinate and instruct me. A hundred other scriptures have spoken to me directly and powerfully, but these are the ones I’ve returned to repeatedly and find myself, in the eighth decade of life, clutching as my own. They have my name on them, so to speak. They are God’s word to me.

We’ll list them in the order in which they’re found in the Bible, followed by a brief commentary as to why we treasure each so highly.

1. Laughter: Genesis 21:6.

“And Sarah said, ‘God has made laughter for me; everyone who hears will laugh with me.'”

In fulfilment of God’s long-awaited and oft-repeated promise, Abraham and Sarah had finally received their son. The 90-year-old mother had given birth to Isaac. The Hebrews pronounced his name as “Yitzhak.” My Old Testament professor, Dr. George Harrison, would tell say, “Sarah named him ‘Laughing Boy.'”

I love to laugh. I like being around laughing people. And, I love Sarah’s statement, “God has made laughter for me.”

God has made laughter for each of us. I love to remind audiences (particularly senior adults), “Some of you have not been getting your daily share!”

It is good to laugh. Laughter is healthy (Proverbs 17:22). The Father in Heaven loves the sound of His children laughing. Laughter is a vote of confidence in God, demonstrating that He is in charge, His promises are sure, and the future is bright, no matter what the circumstances of the moment are threatening.

2. Grace: Exodus 20.

I’m so grateful for the Lord’s grace.

In the 20th chapter of Exodus we find the Ten Commandments. As amazing as they are and as wonderful, what I find truly remarkable is what follows them in that chapter.

“You shall make an altar of earth for me and you shall sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your peace offerings…. And if you make an altar of stone for me, you shall not build it of cut stones, for if you wield your tool on it, you will profane it.” (20:24-25)

Where God reveals His commandments, He also gives us provisions for an altar. Think of that.

First, He reveals His standard. Then, on the other hand, He is saying, “You will not be able to live up to my standard, so I’m building in a way for you to receive forgiveness so that you may re-enter my presence.”

That is all about grace. It is such a remarkable insight into the gracious and loving character of our God. As David said, “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor rewarded us according to our iniquities” (Psalm 103:10). Thank God He hasn’t!

Such passages as Exodus 20:24-25 tell us that the cross–the fulfillment of every Old Testament altar–occupied the heart of God from the beginning.

3. Love: Exodus 34:6-7

“Then the Lord passed by in front of (Moses) and proclaimed, ‘The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgressions, and sins, yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

This self-revelation of God to Moses is unique in Scripture–or it would be–except for one thing: it’s quoted all through the Bible. Granted, Old Testament verses are quoted throughout the New Testament, but try to think of another Old Testament text that is quoted repeatedly in the earlier testament itself. This one is.

Moses prayed this text in Numbers 14:18. Nehemiah sang it in Nehemiah 9:17. Jonah confessed it in Jonah 4. Joel preached it in Joel 2:18. And David sang it in Psalms 86, 103, and 145. Various other writers and preachers and prophets used snippets of it.

What a wonderful God we serve. How gracious and precious He is. And not just once in a while or when He’s in a good mood. It is His everlasting nature to show compassion and forgive sins. “God is love.”

So, earthlings, rejoice. Lift up your head, Christ-believers! You have lucked up. You have won the lottery! The God of the universe is all about love and compassion.

I’m so grateful for such a compassionate God.

4. Neighborliness: Leviticus 19.

“When you reap the harvest of your land, you shall not reap to the very corners of your field, neither shall you gather the gleanings of your harvest. Nor shall you glean your vineyard, nor shall you gather the fallen fruit of your vineyeard; you shall leave them for the needy and the stranger. I am the Lord your God.” (19:9-10)

“You shall not oppress your neighbor, nor rob him…” (19:13)

“You shall love your neighbor as yourself. I am the Lord.” (19:18)

“The stranger who resides with you shall be to you as the native among you, and you shall love him as yourself; for you were aliens in the land of Egypt; I am the Lord your God.” (19:34)

There is nothing else like Leviticus 19 in the rest of the Bible.

This command which Jesus called “the second greatest” is what keeps His disciples authentic. The proof of the vertical relationship (us and God) is seen in the horizontal (us and others). Together, they form the cross.

Hospitality toward newcomers and strangers is a biggie with me. I love that it is with the Lord also.

5. Holiness: Numbers 12 and 16.

“Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses…and they said, ‘Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?’ And the Lord heard it.” (12:1-2)

There’s a caution here. If you are going to rebel against the leader God sends, whatever you do, don’t let the Lord hear it.

“Now, Korah…rose up before Moses, together with some of the sons of Israel, 250 leaders of the congregation, chosen in the assembly, men of renown. And they said to Moses and Aaron, ‘You have gone far enough, for all the congregation are holy, every one of them; and the Lord is in their midst; so why do you exalt yourselves above the assembly of the Lord?'” (16:1-3)

A word of counsel to church people who decide to do a power grab and overthrow the servant-leader God sends: Don’t. It never turns out well.

I deal with pastors often who are attacked, opposed, and fought for no other reason than that they are sent by God to do a mighty work in His church. When I read these accounts, it helps to see how seriously the Lord takes this.

On Mount Carmel, when Elijah was challenging the prophets of Baal to a fire-calling contest, this man of the Lord prayed something I frequently prayed also: “O Lord, let these people know there is a God in Israel. And that I am your servant.” (My paraphrase of I Kings 18:36.) It helps to know that God honors this prayer.

6. Courage: Joshua 1:6,7,9,18.

“Be strong and of good courage.”

Four times in this one chapter, Joshua is reminded in one way or the other that in taking over for Moses to lead God’s people into Canaan, this is no time for weakness or timidity. The same point was made earlier in Deuteronomy 31:6,7,23.

Whether we pastor a church of fifty or stand before thousands in giant crusades or travel to foreign lands to establish works where no one knows Jesus, courage is the order of the day. God is not pleased when those He sends as spokespersons wimp out. In fact, He said as much to Jeremiah. “Now gird up your loins and arise, and speak to them all which I command you. Do not be dismayed before them, lest I dismay you before them.” (Jer. 1:17)

The word “courage” has at its center “cur” meaning “heart.” God gives heart to the servants whom He calls. To lose heart is to grow discouraged and walk away (see II Corinthians 4:1,16).

Stand strong, believer. You serve the living God. Speak clearly, be confident. Do not fear your audience or God will humiliate you before them.

7. Leadership: Judges 5:2.

“Then Deborah and Barak the son of Abinoam sang on that day, saying, ‘That the leaders led in Israel, that the people volunteered, Bless the Lord!'”

What these two are doing is celebrating God’s victory over the Canaanites. They were sky high.

I like their analysis of the victory that day: the leaders led and the people volunteered. Nice arrangement.

You and I have seen movements where leaders are leading but no one is volunteering. As the saying goes, you’re just taking a walk.

We’ve seen projects when people were volunteering, but no one was leading. Nothing got done.

The best arrangement is when both leaders and the congregation are being faithful and stepping up to do their task. It takes both.

Leadership is dear to my heart. Readers who want to pursue this subject may enjoy the 60 or so articles on the subject at my blog, www.joemckeever.com. Scroll down and look for “Leadership lessons” on the right.

8. Prayer: I Samuel 12:23.

“As for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you.”

Old Samuel had finally given in to the request from the people that they be given a king. They wanted to be, not different, but just like all the other nations. God told Samuel to proceed with their request, because, “It’s not you they are rejecting, but me” (I Samuel 8:7). That is a reminder God’s preachers need to keep handy.

And now that Saul had been chosen to lead the nation and Samuel, God’s prophet/judge and Israel’s previous leader, would be receding into the background, he promises to intercede before God in Heaven on their behalf.

Surprisingly, Samuel says for him to quit praying for the people would be sinning against the Lord. That’s how valuable the people are to God and how critical a force intercessory prayer for them is to be.

There’s a lesson here for those of us called as leaders of God’s people. We pray for them or abandon them; we pray for them or we sin against God.

I pray often but not well. I draw a tiny bit of solace from Paul’s admitting he has the same problem. “We do not know how to pray as we should,” he said in Romans 8:26. Thank you, Paul. As we “see through a glass darkly” (I Corinthians 13:12), we could just as easily say we “pray through a glass, poorly.”

But, poorly or not, let us pray. To fail to pray is to drop by the wayside (Luke 18:1).

9. Smallness: I Samuel 14:6.

“The Lord is not restrained to save by many or by few.”

God does not require a large crowd or the most gifted people to do His will. He loves to use nobodies, the few, the small. the overlooked, undervalued, the ordinary.

This bit of wisdom which we find so pleasurable and affirming was uttered by Jonathan, son of King Saul, as he and his best buddy–his armor-bearer–approached a garrison of the Philistine army and decided to take it out. When the assistant hesitated, Jonathan assured him that God was not dependent on a large number of humans for anything.

I love to remind small churches of this truth. I pastored three and have preached in dozens of tiny congregations over these decades, and I know something about them. They tend to have inferiority complexes: “We can’t do that because we’re too few. We don’t have enough people or money or resources or leaders.” “Only the bigger churches can do that.”

The parable of the mustard seed (Matthew 13:31-32) reminds us that when God gets ready to do great things, He loves to begin in small, undramatic ways. I Corinthians 1:26ff declares God loves to use ordinary people like you and me. Great news, isn’t it?

This means none of us have an excuse to get out of serving Him: “I’m just one,” “I don’t have that talent,” and “We’re too few.” It also means there is hope for all of us, no matter how insignificant we feel.

10. Words: Job 4:4.

“Your words have helped the tottering to stand, and you have strengthened feeble knees.”

Job’s friend Eliphaz is building him up just before knocking him down. “You sure have come down,” he’s saying to Job. “In former days, you were such a powerhouse for God and so influential with people. Why, you spoke a few words and people suddenly stood to their feet, encouraged, ready to get back in the game.”A little later, he would drop the other shoe: “Now, look at you. What happened to you?” Eliphaz was certain Job had a sin problem.

Words are so important. God told the Prophet Hosea to “take words with you” (Hos. 14:2). Words can knock you off your feet (who among us cannot recall a harsh word that did just that years ago?) and the right words can stand you up, straighten you out, and send you on your way. Watch a good coach on the sidelines. With one player, he will speak soft comforting words, and with another, harsh strong words. Knowing which to speak to whom requires great understanding.

I grew up with a smart mouth, always ready to deliver a quick word of sass or a clever cut that could wound but could usually be counted on to provoke a laugh. I learned the hard way the cruel effect such words had, and more than once repented publicly and apologized. Almost every day of my life, I pray David’s prayer of Psalm 141:3, “Set a guard upon my mouth, O Lord. Keep watch over the door of my lips.”

At the same time, I carry memories of slights and verbal cuts from childhood. Most of us do. That’s not all bad, since the scars remind us of the power of words.

11. Fellowship: Proverbs 27:17.

“As iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.”

In the weeks, months, and then years following Hurricane Katrina, the pastors of metro New Orleans met on a regular basis for fellowship, prayer, instruction, and mutual encouragement. Again and again, they quoted this verse as describing the power of our fellowship.

As a youngster on the Alabama farm, I sometimes watched my dad in the blacksmith shop. He would occasionally let me work the bellows which pumped air into the underside of the fire in which he was heating a piece of metal. Wth the tongs, he picked up the red-hot metal, held it over the anvil, and pounded it into the desired shape.

Whenever iron sharpens iron, there will be heat and friction and noise. I recall an old pastor telling of his church. “There’s always something going on out at Shiloh,” he laughed. “But it’s all right. After all, where there’s no friction, there’s no traction.”

I’m one who loves the interaction of good friends, particularly those whom I know to be godly, highly intelligent, readers, and thinkers. An hour spent with them–Lonnie Wascom, Chet Griffin, Jim Graham, Mike Miller, or Don Davidson–does me more good than a semester of schooling. (There! I’ve just outed my friends!)

12. Praise: Habakkuk 3:17-19.

“Though the fig tree should not blossom and there be no fruit on the vines; though the yield of the olive should fail and the fields produce no food; though the flock should be cut off from the fold and there be no cattle in the stalls,

Yet, I will exult in the Lord; I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. The Lord God is my strength, and He has made my feet like hinds’ feet. He causes me to walk on my high places.”

I love the “rejoice regardless” nature of this testimony. Anyone can praise God when his health is great, his kids are making A’s and his wife loves him, his income is excellent, his team is winning, his church is flourishing and he loves his pastor.

But let’s see you praise God when the boss is closing your company, your wife has you served with divorce papers, you don’t know where the kids are, your doctor wants you back for more tests, and your church is trying to self-destruct.

Pastor, let’s see you rejoice when the numbers are in free-fall, your prayers seem to stop at the ceiling, and the deacons are calling for your resignation.

Jesus told the disciples, “I don’t want you rejoicing because of the results of your preaching missions, the number saved, or the miracles you saw. Rejoice because your names are written in Heaven.” (My version of Luke 10:20)

The Lord knew there would be times when His people would have no glowing reports, no miracles, and no great successes. There would be times when they would have their heads handed to them, their reputations slandered, and their efforts demolished. (Anyone doubting this should check out Matthew 10:16ff.)

No matter the circumstances, the Lord’s disciples must not lose their joy, must never quit praising the Lord.

He is always praise-worthy and the wise disciple is always praising.

I’m thinking this list should have been for twenty or more scriptures, since we omitted some choice texts that have nurtured me so faithfully over these years. But, in the interest of keeping this manageable, we’ll end it here.

Now, try this little exercise yourself. What are your choice Old Testament verses, those having your name all over them?

(Next, my 12 New Testament scriptures.)