Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Psalm 77:5-7 I think of the good old days, long since ended, when my nights were filled with joyful songs. I search my soul and ponder the difference now. Has the Lord rejected me forever? Will he never again be kind to me? These are painful verses. Asaph, the psalmist, is in the pit of despair. He feels that God has rejected him completely. He looks back at how things used to be, but those memori...

Psalm 73:21-24 Then I realised that my heart was bitter, and I was all torn up inside. I was so foolish and ignorant— I must have seemed like a senseless animal to you. Yet I still belong to you; you hold my right hand. You guide me with your counsel, leading me to a glorious destiny. The psalmist had been struggling with his thoughts. In this psalm, he admits he has become very envious of wicked...

Psalm 71:17-18 O God, you have taught me from my earliest childhood, and I constantly tell others about the wonderful things you do. Now that I am old and grey, do not abandon me, O God. Let me proclaim your power to this new generation, your mighty miracles to all who come after me. Over the years, I have heard a number of people say they felt that in their ideal life, they would do whatever they...

Psalm 69:16-17 Answer my prayers, O LORD, for your unfailing love is wonderful. Take care of me, for your mercy is so plentiful. Don’t hide from your servant; answer me quickly, for I am in deep trouble! Waiting is never easy. Whether it is for a phone call, a parcel or medical results, waiting can be exhausting. If life is going really badly, waiting is even more agonising. That’s exactly how we...

1 Timothy 6:20 Timothy, guard what God has entrusted to you. Avoid godless, foolish discussions with those who oppose you with their so-called knowledge. The name Timothy is Greek and literally means ‘he who honours God’. As Paul drew his letter to an end, he challenged Timothy to live up to his name by looking after what had been entrusted to him. It was as if he had been called to look after a t...

1 Timothy 6:17 Teach those who are rich in this world not to be proud and not to trust in their money, which is so unreliable. Their trust should be in God, who richly gives us all we need for our enjoyment. If you have a look at the world’s stock markets over the past century, you will know exactly what the apostle Paul meant! They have gone up and down. Money is completely unreliable. The downs...

1 Timothy 6:12 Fight the good fight for the true faith. Hold tightly to the eternal life to which God has called you, which you have declared so well before many witnesses. As Paul draws towards the end of his letter to Timothy, he gives his young friend a huge amount of encouragement. He describes him as a man of God and urges him to be the best that he could possibly be. Paul, of all people, kne...

1 Timothy 6:9-10 People who long to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many foolish and harmful desires that plunge them into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. And some people, craving money, have wandered from the true faith and pierced themselves with many sorrows. This is one of the most misquoted verses in the whole Bible. It is often sa...

Timothy 6:6-8 True godliness with contentment is itself great wealth. After all, we brought nothing with us when we came into the world, and we can’t take anything with us when we leave it. So if we have enough food and clothing, let us be content. Everybody can see that to be contented is a wonderful way to be. Oscar Wilde wrote: “True contentment is not having everything, but in being satisfied...

1 Timothy 6:1 All slaves should show full respect for their masters so they will not bring shame on the name of God and his teaching. It’s hard for us to imagine what it must have been like when slavery was normal. Between ten and 20 per cent of the population were slaves in Roman times, so it was an issue with which everyone was familiar. Because the members of the Church were largely drawn from...

1 Timothy 5:19-20 Do not listen to an accusation against an elder unless it is confirmed by two or three witnesses. Those who sin should be reprimanded in front of the whole church; this will serve as a strong warning to others. It is always sad when accusations are made, and it’s particularly tragic when a church leader is the one being accused. However, that’s all a part of being human. I often...

1 Timothy 5:17-18 Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!” As the early Church grew, it inevitably had to face the issue of caring for its leaders. One...

1 Timothy 5:8 But those who won’t care for their relatives, especially those in their own household, have denied the true faith. Such people are worse than unbelievers. In days before the welfare state, caring for relatives could be a massive responsibility, but Paul was clear that it was fundamental to Christian faith. It was usual in his society for families to care for one another, so it was cr...

1 Timothy 5:1-2 Never speak harshly to an older man, but appeal to him respectfully as you would to your own father. Talk to younger men as you would to your own brothers. Treat older women as you would your mother, and treat younger women with all purity as you would your own sisters. In recent years, endless investigations have revealed that abuse exists throughout our society. Upon the publicat...

1 Timothy 4:12 Don’t let anyone think less of you because you are young. Be an example to all believers in what you say, in the way you live, in your love, your faith and your purity. By the time Paul wrote these words to Timothy, they had been colleagues for about 15 years, so Timothy wasn’t particularly young. The Greek word for youth used here can describe anyone of military age, which went up...

1 Timothy 4:8 “Physical training is good, but training for godliness is much better, promising benefits in this life and in the life to come.” There is a great deal of emphasis on physical fitness in our society, which is a good thing. Gym membership is higher than it has ever been, but just because people are members of a gym, it doesn’t mean they ever attend! One survey in the USA revealed that...

1 Timothy 3:1 This is a trustworthy saying: “If someone aspires to be a church leader, he desires an honourable position.” One of the key tasks for Paul and Timothy was to find good leaders. Without godly and effective leadership, the Church was never going to thrive. In this chapter, Paul spelt out the qualities that a church leader needs, and this list hasn’t really changed much over the past 1,...

1 Timothy 2:8 In every place of worship, I want men to pray with holy hands lifted up to God, free from anger and controversy. Lifting up hands in worship has happened for thousands of years. The psalmists often referred to it. In Psalm 63:4, King David proclaimed: “I will praise you as long as I live, lifting up my hands to you in prayer.” However, by itself, lifting our hands in worship says not...

1 Timothy 2:1 I urge you, first of all, to pray for all people. Ask God to help them; intercede on their behalf and give thanks for them. A recent ComRes opinion poll revealed that twice as many people in the 18-34 age group prayed compared with those aged over 55. But regardless of age, the question is: what do we do when we pray? Here in our verse today, Paul encourages Timothy to have the right...

1 Timothy 1:16 God had mercy on me so that Christ Jesus could use me as a prime example of his great patience with even the worst sinners. Then others will realise that they, too, can believe in him and receive eternal life. The apostle Paul never forgot his colourful past. He had been so committed to his Jewish faith that he had gone to extraordinary lengths to destroy the Church. He was convince...

1 Timothy 1:12 I thank Christ Jesus our Lord, who has given me strength to do his work. I seem to be surrounded by people telling me how tired they are. Perhaps it’s just the effect I have on them! However we are feeling right now, there are limits to our strength. Paul had an extremely busy ministry, and he was fully aware that he needed God’s special strength for the work he had to do. This vers...

1 Timothy 1:5-6 The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience and genuine faith. But some people have missed this whole point. You only need to look at the religious section in your local bookshop to see that our society is still interested in religion. There is a massive appetite to learn about the meaning and purpos...

1 Timothy 1:1 This letter is from Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus, appointed by the command of God our Saviour and Christ Jesus, who gives us hope. The apostle Paul always started his letters by making it very clear why he was writing. He wanted everyone to know that he was doing so because God had called him to be an apostle. The word ‘apostle’ means someone who has been sent out, and Paul had n...

Proverbs 27:6 Wounds from a sincere friend are better than many kisses from an enemy. We’ve probably all had moments when friends have said something which made us go: “Ouch!” Perhaps they were giving us a loving warning or strongly disagreeing with our opinion. The pain was real but, when we got over it, we realised they said it because they cared. That doesn’t mean they were necessarily right, o...

Proverbs 27:4 Anger is cruel, and wrath is like a flood, but jealousy is even more dangerous. The Bible introduces us to lots of jealous people. Most famous among them are Joseph’s brothers. They were so consumed with jealousy that they planned to kill him. Throughout history, jealousy has destroyed many lives, and the writer of Proverbs was fully aware of its terrible power. Jealousy starts slowl...