Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Matthew 5:9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. In this beatitude, Jesus isn’t talking about being peace-lovers but peacemakers, and that’s something very different. A peace-lover will often do anything to avoid conflict. They will even allow bad behaviour to continue because of the desire to ‘keep the peace’. Sadly, that kind of attitude does nothing to bring hea...

Matthew 5:8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. If you have any gold or silver, you will know that it is vital for the metal to be free from all impurity. If it is even slightly impure it will be worth only a fraction of the value of the pure metal. Here, Jesus is saying that the same rule applies to our spiritual lives. We need to be single-minded, keeping our eyes fixed on His...

Matthew 5:7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. Jesus told many stories that make us sit up. One of the most powerful was the story of the king who was owed millions of pounds by one of his servants (Matthew 18:21-35). The man couldn’t possibly pay his debt, so he fell on his knees and begged the king to be patient. The king took pity on him and cancelled the debt. If you have...

Matthew 5:6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. I wonder when you last felt painfully hungry or thirsty. I suspect for most of us that if it has ever happened, it is a distant memory. However, it is likely that Jesus’ hearers would have been very familiar with both. Harvests could be good or bad, and it was impossible to achieve a reliable flow of fo...

Matthew 5:5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Meekness and humility lie at the heart of the kingdom of God. As previously mentioned, Jesus once told His disciples that the only way to enter the kingdom was to become as humble as a child (Matthew 18:4). They were still looking for power and influence, but Jesus wanted to turn their thinking upside down. We only serve God effect...

Matthew 5:4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. The word used for ‘mourn’ here is also used in the Greek version of the Old Testament, the Septuagint, to describe Jacob’s grief when he was led to believe that Joseph, his treasured son, was dead (Genesis 37:34). He was grief-stricken. God’s promise is that those who are overwhelmed with sorrow now will find His comfort and stre...

Matthew 5:3 Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. Today’s verse is the first of the so-called beatitudes. Before we launch into it, we need to be clear what Jesus meant by the kingdom of heaven, because it’s an expression He often used. To put it simply, the kingdom of heaven comes where God is allowed to be in control and, amazingly, that can happen in our lives tod...

Psalm 143:7-8 Answer me quickly, Lord; my spirit fails. Do not hide your face from me or I will be like those who go down to the pit. Let the morning bring me word of your unfailing love, for I have put my trust in you. Show me the way I should go, for to you I entrust my life. Depression is tragically common and is one of the world’s most pervasive health conditions. It is estimated that one in t...

Psalm 142:1-2 I cry aloud to the Lord; I lift up my voice to the Lord for mercy. I pour out before him my complaint; before him I tell my trouble. This psalm was written by David as he reflected on the experience of hiding from his enemies in a cave. This happened on two occasions. Firstly in Adullam, and secondly in En-gedi. On both occasions he was being threatened by King Saul, who was eager to...

Psalm 141:5 Let a righteous man strike me – that is a kindness; let him rebuke me – that is oil on my head. This verse reminds us of the teaching of Proverbs where it says: “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Wounds from a friend can be trusted, but an enemy multiplies kisses” (Proverbs 27:5-6). These words are no doubt wise, but that doesn’t mean it is easy when somebody tells us that we hav...

Psalm 141:3-4 Set a guard over my mouth, Lord; keep watch over the door of my lips. Do not let my heart be drawn to what is evil so that I take part in wicked deeds along with those who are evildoers; do not let me eat their delicacies. David knew that his worship couldn’t stand apart from everyday life. If he worshipped God, he knew it had to affect the way in which he spoke to other people. He k...

Psalm 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. One of the reasons many people love to read daily newspapers is to find out what terrible things other people do in order to feel a little bit better about themselves. I won’t ask you whether that has ever been your motivation! In thi...

Psalm 139:13-14 You created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well. Our bodies are simply amazing. Here are a few random facts: every second, our bodies produce 25 million new cells; the tongue is covered in about 8,000 tastebuds, each containing up to 100 cells helping us...

Psalm 139:1-2 You have searched me, Lord, and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. We are incredibly sensitive these days about protecting our personal data. Quite rightly, we don’t want everyone to know everything about us. We’ve likely all had the experience of getting emails and letters from organisations who know far more about us than we would...

Psalm 138:8 The Lord will vindicate me; your love, Lord, endures forever – do not abandon the works of your hands. When you sing about or listen to a sermon on the subject of guidance, it can often sound very straightforward. But life rarely runs in a straight line, and King David, who wrote this psalm, was definitely aware of that. He got himself into endless scrapes and was always up against det...

James 5:19-20 My brothers and sisters, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring that person back, remember this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of their way will save them from death and cover over a multitude of sins. Churches are not made up of perfect people. Far from it! This surprises those who assume Christians live lives of near perfection. For such people...

James 5:16b The prayer of a righteous person is powerful and effective. Some years ago I contracted whooping cough. To be honest, I thought it was only something children got and was amazed when my GP told me I had caught it. From time to time over a number of weeks I struggled to breathe. The worst episodes were in the middle of the night, and I will never forget those desperate attempts to breat...

James 5:16a Confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. How are you? I wonder how you normally respond to that question. Probably, like most of us, you smile sweetly and summarise your life with one word: “Fine”. It’s a good word and if it’s true, that’s wonderful, and one can only hope that it will continue to be the case. But, if we’re honest, it is sometim...

James 5:14-15 Is anyone among you ill? Let them call the elders of the church to pray over them and anoint them with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise them up. If they have sinned, they will be forgiven. Jesus was both a healer and a teacher. You cannot divide up His ministry. He ministered to the whole range of people’...

James 5:13 Is anyone among you in trouble? Let them pray. Is anyone happy? Let them sing songs of praise. I once heard a well-known preacher tell the story of a young woman who said she often didn’t feel like praying. His response was that prayer is not a glandular condition! Prayer is something we need to do whatever our feelings. That’s precisely the point that James is making here. In short, it...

James 5:12 Above all, my brothers and sisters, do not swear – not by heaven or by earth or by anything else. All you need to say is a simple “Yes” or “No”. Otherwise you will be condemned. James isn’t talking here about bad language but about the very common practice at the time of trying to strengthen a statement by taking an oath. Jews made a distinction between oaths made in the name of God, wh...

James 5:11 As you know, we count as blessed those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen what the Lord finally brought about. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy. We don’t know exactly what James’ readers were facing, but clearly it was tough for them to live as Christians. They needed to persevere. Amid all the temptations, distractions and persecution that t...

James 5:9 Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door! The Bible introduces us to lots of grumbling people. Most famously we hear the people of Israel having a whinge after God had miraculously led them out of slavery in Egypt. They had been there for 400 years and, at last, had been set free by the mighty hand of God. The yoke...

James 5:7-8 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Waiting sounds easy until you have to do it! As we all know, waiting can be incredibly difficult and demanding, especially if you don’t...

James 5:1-2 Now listen, you rich people, weep and wail because of the misery that is coming on you. Your wealth has rotted, and moths have eaten your clothes. You can almost see the steam coming out of James’ ears, can’t you? He is furious at the way in which the rich people are abusing their position. His very specific gripe is that they have failed to pay their workmen for mowing their fields. F...