Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Matthew 1:19 Joseph, to whom she was engaged, was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her publicly, so he decided to break the engagement quietly. At the centre of the account of Jesus’ birth is a man about whom we know very little. Joseph was the legal father of Jesus, but after Jesus’ birth, we meet Joseph on only one occasion, when the family visit to Jerusalem for Passover when Jesus...

Matthew 1:16-17 Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah. Matthew shows here how the Old Testament has prepared the way for the coming of Jesus. He points out that there were 14 generations from the time of Abraham...

Matthew 1:1-16 This is a record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham…Joseph was the husband of Mary. Mary gave birth to Jesus, who is called the Messiah. If you were writing a biography of a famous person, I strongly suspect you wouldn’t start like this. But Matthew was writing his Gospel for people from a Jewish background and so it was important that he sta...

Romans 11:33-36 Oh, how great are God’s riches and wisdom and knowledge! How impossible it is for us to understand his decisions and his ways! For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back? For everything comes from him and exists by his power and is intended for his glory. All glory to him forever! Amen. Paul...

Romans 9:2-3 My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them. The apostle Paul was proud of his Jewish heritage and was passionate that his Jewish brothers and sisters should share in the wonder of knowing Christ as their personal Lord and saviour. But look a...

Romans 8.38-39 I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is reveal...

Romans 7:24-25 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. It isn’t easy to talk about the battles that go on in our lives but here, Paul lets it all pour out! Here is a mature Christian leader and brilliant teacher admitting that, although he wants to do what’s right, he often found himsel...

Romans 5:1 Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Everyone agrees that it is desirable to find inner peace. Go into any book shop and you will find dozens of books that offer you quick routes to inner tranquillity. These will give you a wide range of suggestions - from those that encourage you...

Romans 4:20 Abraham never wavered in believing God’s promise. In fact, his faith grew stronger, and in this he brought glory to God. Paul is clear that faith is all important for those who want to be put right with God. Here, he uses Abraham, the father of the Jewish nation, as the supreme example of this. He trusted God completely even when life was tough and there was little encouragement. It al...

Romans 3:29-30 After all, is God the God of the Jews only? Isn’t he also the God of the Gentiles? Of course he is. There is only one God, and he makes people right with himself only by faith, whether they are Jews or Gentiles. The apostle Paul was Jewish and very proud of the fact. In this letter he goes to great lengths to show that Jews have a very important place in the plans of God, but he wan...

Romans 1:20 For ever since the world was created, people have seen the earth and sky. Through everything God made, they can clearly see his invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature. So they have no excuse for not knowing God. People often ask how God will judge those who have never responded to him, and especially those who have never heard about Jesus. Here Paul makes it clear that...

Romans 1:17 This Good News tells us how God makes us right in his sight. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. I once heard about a group of rowdy young people who had too much time on their hands and decided that it would be great fun to push a piano down the stairs in the building where they were meeting and see what happened. The result was inevitable. The piano was wrecked. Heari...

Romans 1:16 I am not ashamed of this Good News about Christ. It is the power of God at work, saving everyone who believes – the Jew first and also the Gentile. We are told that the apostle Paul had a particularly unimpressive appearance. According to tradition, he had heavy eyebrows, bandy legs, a bald head, a hooked nose, bad eyesight and no great gifts as a speaker. How could such a person have...

Romans 1:9 God knows how often I pray for you. Day and night I bring you and your needs in prayer to God, whom I serve with all my heart by spreading the Good News about his Son. Prayer is a blessing in every way. It is how we communicate with God and so it needs to be at the beating heart of a Christian’s life. Prayerlessness is the surest path to spiritual weakness and discouragement. By contras...

Romans 1:7 I am writing to all of you in Rome who are loved by God and are called to be his own holy people. Paul’s letter to the church in Rome is sometimes described as the Gospel according to Paul. It’s not a bad description because in this letter he gives the fullest explanation of his understanding of the good news of Jesus Christ. Paul never met Jesus during his earthly ministry but his mira...

Proverbs 20:29 The glory of the young is their strength; the grey hair of experience is the splendour of the old. Tension between the generations is not new. Aristotle, in the fourth century, commented: “When I look at the younger generation, I despair of the future of civilisation.” Long after Aristotle’s day, in 1237, a monk named Peter gave his reasons for despair when he looked at the youth of...

Proverbs 20:20 If you insult your father or mother, your light will be snuffed out in total darkness. Family relationships were of central concern to the writer of Proverbs. The incredibly harsh language that he uses in this particular proverb shows his complete contempt for those who insulted their parents. No punishment was too great for those who were able to sink to such depths. Later in Prove...

Proverbs 19:28 A corrupt witness makes a mockery of justice; the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil. Justice is a persistent theme throughout the Bible, because it is one of the characteristics of God. He loves justice. This is beautifully described in Deuteronomy 32:4: “He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just an...

Proverbs 19:18 Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives. The word ‘discipline’ has a harsh ring to it, but the writer of the Proverbs is clear that it is absolutely essential for every parent to know how to do it. He saw discipline as the way that parents show love to their children. In Proverbs 22:6 he wrote: “Direct your children on to the right path, and...

Proverbs 18:4 Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook. If you look at the history of many communities, you will find that settlements originally grew up in close proximity to a river, brook or spring. The water source gave them life and here, Proverbs says that it is just the same with wisdom. Wisdom brings life wherever it goes, and so wise people will ce...

Proverbs 17:5 Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished. Every society has poor people and Jesus affirmed that that would always be the case. But that doesn’t mean that we should be unconcerned for the poor. The Bible encourages us to take their needs seriously and do everything we can to support them. Leviticus gave some very practi...

Proverbs 17:4 Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander. The book of Proverbs was written more than 2,500 years ago, but the issues that it tackles are so up to date that you could easily imagine it was written yesterday! Today’s verse reminds us that there have always been gossips. There are many references to gossips in Proverbs and it is clear that the writer is...

1 Thessalonians 5:19-21 Do not stifle the Holy Spirit. Do not scoff at prophecies, but test everything that is said. Hold on to what is good. It has been estimated that as many as 20 per cent of the paintings held by Britain’s major museums may be forgeries. It is apparently extremely difficult to be certain of the precise origin of paintings and it takes a great deal of forensic work to gain any...

1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus. On the face it, we are looking at three impossible commands here. Being continually joyful, prayerful and thankful sounds wonderful, but can Paul seriously mean that that’s how we should live our lives every single day? What about those times wh...

1 Thessalonians 5:14 Brothers and sisters, we urge you to warn those who are lazy. Encourage those who are timid. Take tender care of those who are weak. Be patient with everyone. Although the leaders of the church in Thessalonica had a particular responsibility for caring for the people, Paul was clear that everyone had a part to play. As members of God’s family, everyone needs to be involved in...