Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

James 5:19–20 Churches are not made up of perfect people. Far from it! This surprises some, who assume that Christians live lives of near perfection. For such people there is great consternation when the organist goes off with the youth leader, or the treasurer embezzles the church’s money. We should always be shocked and disappointed by such behaviour – but never surprised. Churches are, in many...

James 5:16 Some years ago I contracted whooping cough. To be honest I thought that it was something only children got so was amazed when my GP told me that 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; I will never forget those desperate attempts to breathe, which ended in the “whoop” as air finally, slowly and...

James 5:16 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 the one word “Fine”. It’s a good word and if it’s true that’s wonderful. But, if we’re honest, it is sometimes the word we use to push people away. What we’re actually saying is, “It’s none of your business. Leave me alone. Hopefully if you think I’m...

James 5:14–15 Jesus was both a healer and a teacher. He ministered to the whole range of people’s needs – body, mind and spirit. When Jesus left this earth he commissioned the Church to carry on with that ministry. Here in James we see what that meant in practice. The Church is called to minister to those who are sick and to pray for them knowing that God loves to make people better and also to fo...

James 5:13 I remember as a teenager hearing a well-known preacher telling the story of a young woman who had told him that she often didn’t feel like praying. His response was that prayer is not a glandular condition! Prayer is something that we need to do whatever our feelings. That’s precisely the point that James is making here. In short, it’s always the right time to pray – whether you are goi...

James 5:12 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, which could never be broken, and other oaths that didn’t mention God, which could be broken. James encourages his readers to make life much easier by simply telling the truth. The...

James 5:11 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, they needed to hang in there for God. Job is a classic illustration of this. Everything went catastrophically wrong for him. He lost his children, his possessions and his health. He had the indig...

James 5:9 The Bible introduces us to lots of grumbling people. Most famously, the people of Israel, who whinged after
God had miraculously led them out of slavery in Egypt. They had been there for 400 years and, at last, were set free by the mighty hand of God. The yoke of oppression had been broken and they were now able to enjoy the sweet taste of freedom. But almost immediately their response w...

James 5:7–8 Waiting sounds easy – until you have to do it! Waiting can be incredibly difficult and demanding, especially if you don’t know how long you are going to have to wait for. Waiting for medical test results, for a member of the family to make contact or for someone to repay a debt, for example, can sap your energy and leave you feeling exhausted, disappointed and confused. The challenge w...

James 5:1–2 You can almost see the steam coming out of James’ ears can’t you?! He was furious at the way in which rich people were abusing their position. His very specific gripe with them was that they had failed to pay their workmen for mowing their fields. For James this wasn’t a little economic problem. This was an evil that had reached the ears of God himself and the rich people were heading...

James 4:13–14 We are constantly encouraged to plan for the future. Whether we are looking at our family, our housing, our holidays or our pensions we are under continual pressure to make good plans. I don’t think that James was telling his readers not to do any planning, but he did want to prick the bubble of their arrogance. They thought that their life was their possession and that they could do...

James 4:7–8 Life can often feel like a battleground. There is great evil in the world – any newspaper will illustrate that in agonising detail. But there is also immense kindness and goodness all around, if we have the eyes to see it. Daily life can often feel like a pitched battle between good and evil. James is concerned that his readers should make good decisions as they live on this battlegrou...

James 4:6–7 Did you know that God is capable of hatred? Perhaps you think that God is so nice that he couldn’t bring himself to hate anything. The fact is that the Bible is quite clear that God seethes with hatred at times. In Proverbs 6:16–19 we learn that God hates seven things and top of the list is pride. God’s problem with pride is that it is a complete rejection of him. The proud person does...

James 4:2–3 If you could have anything in the world, what would you choose? A beautiful large home? A yacht? A luxurious holiday; perfect health; world peace? Verse two seem to suggest that we just need to ask God and we will get whatever we want. But verse three makes it clear that we need to ask with the right motive. This means that God loves us so much that he doesn’t necessarily give us what...

James 3:17–18 Many churches these days observe that they have very few people in their 20s and 30s. Whenever I’ve asked people in that age group what they are looking for one theme dominates – authenticity. They are looking for Christians and churches that ring true because they practise what they preach. James was on exactly the same page and was ruthless in addressing those who say the right wor...

James 3:3-5 The tongue is incredibly powerful, for good or ill. I recall the story of a young man who shared some gossip about the local clergyman. Having heard about the rumours, the clergyman, with great gentleness and wisdom, took the young man to the top of the church tower. Once there, he handed him a feather pillow and asked him to rip it open. The feathers floated all over the village. Some...

James 2:15-17 You’ve probably noticed that Christians use a lot of words! Preaching, singing, praying and fellowship all involve oceans of words. And that’s fine, as long as our words also translate into action. Otherwise, we should just be quiet! You can preach the finest sermon, sing the most beautiful song of worship, pray the most articulate prayer and enjoy the warmest fellowship but if godly...

James 2:1 Do you have favourites? Or do you look at all other people in exactly the same way whatever their age, education, wealth, beauty, race or religion, and irrespective of whether you know them or not? We would all like to claim that we don’t have favourites, but James points out to his readers that favouritism very easily creeps into our thinking. James describes a situation that could happ...

James 1:23-24 For if you listen to the word and don’t obey, it is like glancing at your face in a mirror. You see yourself, walk away, and forget what you look like. I love the way James writes, but I’m not too sure he would make easy company! He is so incredibly blunt. Here he makes the obvious but powerful point that there would be no use in looking in a mirror if it didn’t cause you to do somet...

James 1:5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. Life constantly throws challenges at us. How should I be spending my time and money? Should I move to a different job? How can I resolve the dispute with my next door neighbour? Should I let my colleague know that he’s annoying me? How should I tell my daughter that I think she’s seei...

James 1:2-3 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles of any kind come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. Having problems, trials and difficulties hardly sounds like the best way to create joy. So what is James talking about in these verses? It may sound ridiculous, but he is taking his readers to the...

Proverbs 11:25 The importance of generosity is a theme that spans the whole Bible. Everyone has moments of generosity. However, Biblical teaching encourages us to be generous as a way of life. It is no surprise that the writer of Proverbs returns to this theme frequently. He was clear that generosity not only blesses the person who receives the gift but the one who gives it, too. Generosity sprays...

Proverbs 11:17 We tend to get a bit coy about the idea of getting rewards for living a godly life. This makes us very different from the writer of Proverbs! He was absolutely clear that living in line with God’s love and truth has rich rewards. It leads to a life bubbling over with joy, peace, love and healthy relationships. At the same time, he was clear that living contrary to God’s will leads t...

Proverbs 11:14 What wise words these are! The world cries out for wise leaders. The Hebrew word used here literally means ‘seamanship’. That is to say: the ship of state needs to be in the hands of those who are wise enough to prevent the nation hitting the rocks. We see far too many countries in confusion and conflict because of the absence of wise leadership. It’s easy to become disillusioned an...

Proverbs 11:13 I suspect we have all had the experience of someone saying to us: “This is just between you and me. It must go no further. It has to be kept within these four walls.” Because we are human, we get excited. This person has trusted us with important information. But this is dangerous territory. It may well be that they are passing on information with such care because they have promise...