Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Luke 5:29-30 Levi the tax collector is better known to us as Matthew. There were many kinds of tax at the time. There was a poll tax, which men aged 14 to 65 and women aged twelve to 65 had to pay. There was also a ground tax: one-tenth of all that was grown, and one-fifth of wine and oil, to be paid in kind or in money. And then there was income tax of one percent. However, that was only the star...

Luke 5:18-19 You can imagine the scene. Jesus had become an incredibly popular preacher and healer, and huge crowds were eager to meet him. At the same time, he was arousing the interest of the religious leaders who were anxious about his growing reputation, and had come to question him. On this particular day, he had decided to speak in the house in which he was staying, possibly because it was s...

Luke 5:10-11 So far as we know, this is the first time that Jesus had ever met Simon. We have learnt that Jesus had borrowed his boat to use as a convenient pulpit, and then gave Simon orders to fish in a new area, which resulted in an enormous catch. In the very next moment, Jesus informs Simon that he wants to change his life around! I find that amazing. If it had been me, I would have wanted to...

Luke 5:8-9 If you have ever talked to fishermen, you will know that they have a great sensitivity for their work. It is dangerous and demanding, and they are eager to be successful. They are often very good at anticipating where the fish are and how they are likely to respond. So when a complete stranger offered Simon Peter and his friends some advice, they were bound to take it with a pinch of sa...

Luke 5:4-6 People have fished in the Sea of Galilee for thousands of years. There are 27 types of fish found in the fresh water lake, the most famous being the Tilapia Galiliea. When it is mature, the fish can be up to 40cm long and 1.5kg in weight. It’s often known as the St Peter’s fish. Jesus’ ministry was largely based around Capernaum, one of the main fishing communities on the lake and so, f...

Luke 4:42 Jesus’ public ministry had only just begun, but he was already in great demand. People found his teaching compelling because he spoke with such authority. He was quite different from their Jewish leaders. And his healing ministry was also drawing great crowds, winning him much attention and admiration. But Jesus couldn’t keep going without having time away from the crowds. Early in the m...

Luke 4:18-19 These are the words that Jesus read in his home synagogue in Nazareth. They came from the prophecy of Isaiah and Jesus read them from a scroll during the sabbath service. So far so good. But he didn’t stop there. Having handed back the scroll to the attendant, he informed the congregation that the scripture they had just heard had been fulfilled that very day. Everyone spoke well of h...

Luke 4:13 When we talk about Jesus’ temptations in the wilderness, it might sound as if those were the only times when he was tempted. However, Luke makes it clear that this was not the case. The devil was always looking for his “next opportunity” to get at Jesus. It was an inevitable part of being fully human. As the writer to the Hebrews put it: “he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he d...

Luke 4:6-8 All three of the temptations which Jesus received from the devil involved short cuts. Jesus didn’t deny that the devil had real power, or that the world was in his hands. But Jesus knew he had come to defeat the power of evil - and that the only way to achieve this was by going to the cross. There could be no short cuts. Jesus had a mission given to him by God his Father and he had to b...

Luke 4:3-4 The devil will always try to exploit our weakest places. Jesus hadn’t eaten for forty days. He would have been hungry in a way that I have never experienced. Every sinew in his body was surely longing for some food, so the thought that he could miraculously turn a stone into a loaf of bread must have been extremely attractive. But Jesus knew that he must resist the temptation and he did...

Luke 4:1-2 I think some people imagine that if you follow Jesus, all your problems miraculously disappear. With him on your side, you will be sure to have a life overflowing with peace, joy, love and smiling people. But the truth is different. When you follow Jesus, you can be sure that there will be challenges. That was certainly Jesus’ experience. Having just been baptised in the river Jordan, J...

Luke 3:23-24 It is so interesting that Jesus began his ministry when he was about 30 years of age. Only Dr Luke supplies us with this information, and it is fascinating to reflect on why it took him so long to begin his public ministry. Like many people, I started preaching in my late teens and had preached to thousands of people by the time I was 30. We cannot know the answer to why Jesus began h...

Luke 3:19-20 John the Baptist had a ministry of confrontation. He called the crowd a brood of snakes and delivered an uncompromising message. He believed that his ministry was to call the nation to repentance – and that included the king. Anyone looking for a quiet life would have kept quiet about the king’s marital arrangements. It was well known that, on a visit to Rome, Herod Antipas had met an...

Luke 3:7-8 John the Baptist was clearly a really interesting character. Matthew tells us that he wore clothes woven from coarse camel hair and existed on a diet of locusts and wild honey (see Matthew 3:4). There was nothing conventional about him. Like so many prophets before him, he spent time in the desert. He had a very simple and straightforward message: he called on everyone to repent and be...

Psalm 137:3-4 This is an agonising psalm. The people are in exile far from their homes. Sitting by the rivers of Babylon, they were about 1,000 miles from their beloved Jerusalem. In their misery, they couldn’t bring themselves to make music, so they hung their harps on the branches of poplar trees. However, the local people were insistent: they wanted to hear a happy song. But the exiles could th...

Psalm 136:1-3 Those are just the first three verses of this psalm. It has 26 verses in all and they all end with the refrain: “His faithful love endures forever.” You have to feel that the psalmist is trying to make a point! During the psalm, he points to the wonder of creation and the way in which God has helped the people of Israel throughout their turbulent history. All of these things illustra...

Psalm 133:1-2 It’s always inspiring to see unity at work. Whatever the organisation, it is encouraging to see a group of people working effectively and happily together. Whether it’s a football team, school, business, family or church, it is a blessing to see everyone working in harmony. The thought of anointing oil being poured over a person sounds quite sticky and messy to me, but it’s clearly i...

Psalm 132:3-5 When David made Jerusalem the capital city of Israel, it was a major political event. The dynamics of the nation from then onwards were totally different. But, for David, this was far more than merely a political moment. He saw the city as a spiritual centre for the nation. This would be the place where people would come to worship God. And, so, the first need was to bring the Ark of...

Psalm 131:1-2 C.H. Spurgeon, the great Victorian Baptist preacher, commented that this psalm is: “one of the shortest psalms to read but one of the longest to learn”. Learning to be humble is so tough. Anyone who claims to have achieved it has a very long way to go! Humility is a wonderful quality. The truly humble person knows where they stand before God. They recognise his greatness and power, a...

2 Timothy 4:7-8 These are remarkable verses. Paul was clear that his life was coming to an end, but there was absolutely no sense of despair or sadness. He was about to be set free from the restrictions and problems of life, to enter into the nearer presence of his Lord. What was there to be sad about? He used this moment to reflect on his life and did so, typically, by using metaphors from sport....

2 Timothy 4:1-2 We are all aware that other people are looking at us, and that is particularly true of Christian leaders. Because of the public nature of the role, people are constantly making judgments about us, whether we like it or not. This is challenging for everyone, but particularly those who, like Timothy, are still relatively inexperienced. It is easy to become anxious and overly defensiv...

2 Timothy 3:16-17 When we use the term ‘scripture’ we are clear that we are referring to the Old and New Testaments. However, when Paul was writing, much of the New Testament had yet to be written. It wasn’t until AD 382 that the Council of Rome made a firm decision on which books should be included in the Bible. So what did Paul mean when he referred to “all Scripture”? He certainly meant more th...

2 Timothy 3:12-14 Paul didn’t want Timothy to have any illusions. Following Christ was the most wonderful life that Paul could imagine, but it wasn’t easy. And he knew it wouldn’t be easy for Timothy either. He would face challenges on all sides and, at the same time, would have to cope with the sight of his opponents flourishing. It was going to be incredibly tough, but Paul was convinced that, b...

2 Timothy 3:10-11 On the face of it, this might sound like Paul is bragging, but he knew how crucial personal example was. He has just informed Timothy of the challenges he may face and of the way in which society is going to become more and more ungodly and destructive. If Timothy is going to survive, let alone thrive, he will need to be a very effective teacher, but also have a life that backed...

2 Timothy 3:1-2 The last days are often spoken about in the Bible. They refer to the period in which we now live, the age of the Spirit. In the prophecy of Joel, we hear God saying that in the last days, he would “pour out my Spirit upon all people” (Joel 2:24). In Acts 2:17, Peter declared that this was being fulfilled on the Day of the Pentecost. There is no doubt that this was a very challengin...