The Daily Walk | 07.29.2026 | Nancy Williams | Numbers 6:24-26

24 The Lord bless you and keep you;
25 the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you;
26 the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.

Transcript

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Hi everyone, it's Nancy with your Wednesday edition of our daily walk. This past Sunday we began a new sermon series in the book of Philippians, which begins with these two verses. Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, to all the saints in Christ Jesus who were at Philippi with the overseers and the deacons. Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul used that greeting of grace and peace often in his writing, so I did a little digging into that blessing. It's a common one used in Christian greetings. As I did so, I came across an article written by Katie Augustine. Listen to her opening comment. Paul wrote 13 books of the New Testament, and guess what? He started every single book with those two words. Grace and peace to you. Don't believe me? Check out the verse view verses of each of his books. Clearly, grace and peace was Paul's signature greeting. If he lived today, those words would be considered his ministry's mission statement, his brand, and probably be on his Instagram profile. End quote. Pastor Aaron talked about grace and took us to Paul's writing in Ephesians chapter two. Yet my mind lingered on the word peace, perhaps because there's some challenging things stirring in my life lately and taking my focus. I'm thankful daily for God's grace that picks me up and restores me when I fall short of his desires for me. His grace is sufficient to guide me and provide for me when I call on him. And yet the Lord is reminding me in fresh ways of the peace he offers if I will draw close and keep the eyes of my heart on him. Miss Augustine wrote, You can keep a quiet heart living in the light of God's grace and enveloped in the protection of his peace. The Lord's been reminding me that peace is not driven by circumstances being calmed down or cleared up. It's a peace that flows from our relationship with him. It comes when we acknowledge his presence with us and trust that he's firmly in control of our lives. Listen as I paraphrase a challenge from Ms. Augustine's writing. She said, Look around at your life. How are things today? In divided, uncertain times as we look to the future with no clue what it will hold. I urge you to hold on to the treasure of these two words, grace and peace, as a reminder that God sent his only son into the world to save us from our lost condition. God knows what the future will bring, and we can trust we are safe in his capable hands. With this faith in your heart, heaven is yours and earth holds nothing to worry you. And here is that phrase once again. You can keep a quiet heart living in the light of God's grace and enveloped in the protection of his peace. Let me close our time here with this familiar blessing from Numbers chapter six. May it wash over us in a fresh way today with God's grace and peace. The Lord bless you and keep you. The Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you. The Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. Amen.