Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

When Mark put together his Gospel, he had a very clear purpose. You might have thought he was going to take us through the life story of Jesus, but he doesn’t. He totally disregards the first 30 years of Jesus’ life. He doesn’t tell us about Jesus’ birth, education, employment or relationships. We would be fascinated to know about all of those things, but Mark wants to get to the heart of the matt...

The psalmist isn’t merely talking about house building in this famous psalm. He is talking about everything we build – a life, relationship, family, organisation, city, or society. There is no point in building anything without God, because it is bound to fail. Throughout the Bible we are introduced to people who tried to go it alone. Adam and Eve are the supreme examples, but they were merely set...

Psalm 126:5-6 If you know anything about farming you will know that it is hard work. But just imagine how incredibly tough it was in the psalmist’s day without the help of modern machinery. Planting was back breaking work, but year by year the farmer would sow his seed with the confidence of knowing that, one day, there would be a harvest. We cannot be sure, but it seems as if this psalm was writt...

Psalm 125:1-2 I love these Psalms of ascent, which the pilgrims used as they travelled to Jerusalem. In this particular psalm, we almost get the feeling that we are travelling with them as they gazed at the mountains around Jerusalem. Even the mountains themselves spoke to them of the security they had in God. I don’t find it surprising that Christians throughout the centuries have found pilgrimag...

Psalm 124:8 I wonder if you ever have “What if” conversations. You know the sort of thing: What if I had had a different career? What if I had gone to a different school? What if we had moved to a different town? In this psalm, David reflected on an even bigger question. He began the psalm with the question: “What if the Lord had not been on our side?” As the pilgrims made their way up to Jerusale...

Galatians 6:18 The story of John Newton is well known. He first went to sea with his father when he was eleven years old and soon became deeply involved in working on slave ships. It was a terrible experience and, after falling out with the crew of the Pegasus in 1745 he even found himself in slavery. Three years later, he was rescued and, on his return home, he read the Bible and became a Christi...

Galatians 6:17 Alan Paton wrote a book called Cry, the Beloved Country (Simon & Schuster) and was a fierce opponent of apartheid in South Africa. He once wrote about his death: “When I go up there, which is my intention, the Big Judge will say to me, Where are your wounds? and if I say I haven’t any, he will say, Was there nothing to fight for? I couldn’t face that question.” If we are willing to...

Galatians 6:14 There was clearly a lot of boasting going on amongst the Galatians! There were those who boasted of the fact that they continued to keep the Jewish law. They continued to practice circumcision and to stand by the Old Testament law. They were convinced that they were doing extremely well, and looked down their noses at Paul, who was firmly opposed to circumcision for Christians and w...

Galatians 6:7-8 The principle of “you reap what you sow” is both obvious and profound. If you sow a field full of wheat you would be crazy to expect a crop of potatoes. It’s so obvious that it hardly needs saying, but the message fundamentally challenges the way in which we live each day, because each word that we speak and action that we perform will have consequences. If we are kind, gracious an...

Galatians 6:6 It’s not surprising that Paul spoke so clearly about the need to care for teachers in the early Church. They had a crucial role and, if they were not supported by the financial gifts of the church members, they would starve. The Galatian Christians needed to be reminded of their responsibilities. When Paul wrote to his young colleague Timothy, he referred to the need to show respect...

Galatians 6:4-5 In the previous couple of verses, Paul spoke of the importance of us helping other people to carry their heavy burdens. Now he reminds the Galatians that they have their own burden to bear. The word he uses is also used of a soldier’s pack; that is to say we all have a certain amount that we have to carry. We have responsibilities to bear and sometimes, we just need to get on with...

Galatians 6:2-3 We live in a society that appears to be far more interested in rights than responsibilities. That is not to say that rights are unimportant, because they are clearly crucial. The right to free speech, health, safety, care and justice are fundamental to society. However, none of them will ever happen unless we are all willing to take responsibility. As Rabbi Jonathan Sacks powerfull...

Galatians 6:1 Sadly, in every organisation of human beings things sometimes go wrong. It’s sad but also an inevitable fact. I love the gracious and positive way in which this verse addresses the issue. When someone sins it is not the end of the world. We don’t need to make a drama out of it, but action needs to be taken, and quickly. The goal is always restoration, but that needs to be done really...

Galatians 5:25-26 Living in step with the Holy Spirit sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Just imagine a life which is full of love, joy, peace and all the other beautiful fruit of the Spirit. This must surely be life at its best. But the apostle Paul knew that the life of the Spirit had to be lived out in a world in which sin is still alive and well. I often hear people express disappointment in their c...

Galatians 5:22-23 These beautiful spiritual qualities are the inevitable result of the Holy Spirit taking control of a person’s life. You can be sure of the genuineness of a person’s spiritual experience when you see these qualities flowing. It’s interesting that Paul speaks here of the fruit of the Holy Spirit but makes no mention of the gifts, which are also the result of the Spirit being at wor...

Galatians 5:16-17 It’s always refreshing when you meet someone who is completely honest. The apostle Paul was such a man. In Romans 7:18-19, he gave an astonishingly frank account of how he ticked. He talked about the way he struggled with his sinful nature, summing it up this way: “I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, b...

Galatians 5:7-9 We all know what is to be disappointed. It may be that someone has let you down, or that things just haven’t worked out in the way that you had hoped. Paul’s letter to the Galatians is dominated by his deep and agonising disappointment that they had allowed false teaching to mislead them. He wondered whether his ministry to them had been a complete failure. This was clearly intense...

Galatians 4:6-7 When I hear the word ‘father’ I immediately think of my own. We probably all do exactly the same thing. I think of a gentle and kind Christian man. He was a businessman and a busy member of our church, and was always absolutely devoted to my mother and his four children. He died a few years ago and I thank God for him. But I am well aware that the word can also trigger completely d...

Galatians 3:11 For the apostle Paul, this was the crunch issue. The only way to be made right with God is through faith. He was addressing many people who believed that obeying the law was crucial for all Christians, but he argued that however well we live, we will always fail. By our own efforts, we will never be able to put right our relationship with God. Coming from a strict Jewish background,...

Galatians 2:20 In these first two chapters of Galatians, Paul gives a fascinating summary of his life story since he became a Christian. He reminds his readers of his background. He had been so deeply committed to his Jewish faith that he had done everything possible to destroy the Church. Paul makes it clear that when he started following Christ he didn’t rush to Jerusalem, which was where the fi...

Galatians 1:4 Every now and again we hear about rescue missions. Brave soldiers are put down behind enemy lines, often in a low flying helicopter, and set some prisoners free. It’s all very exciting and impressive. Here the apostle Paul talks about us being rescued. It sounds as if God is coming to transport us out of this world, but that isn’t his purpose. His desire is to leave us in this world...

Galatians 1:1 Yesterday we were reflecting on the call of Isaiah. He was absolutely clear that he was called by God to his challenging ministry. Today in this reading from Galatians we meet the apostle Paul, hundreds of years later, making it clear that he was appointed by God alone. This was no human appointment but one that God had decided to make. As this letter unfolds it will become increasin...

Isaiah 6:8 Isaiah’s encounter with God in the temple was so intimate that he was able to overhear God having a conversation. In it God was wondering who he could send as a messenger and Isaiah immediately put up his hand and offered his services. Isaiah’s response stands in marked contrast to others, such as Moses and Jeremiah, who offered God reasons why he had chosen the wrong person. Isaiah was...

Isaiah 6:5-7 I’m sure you’ve had the experience of cleaning a window with great care. The last smudge has been removed and you are convinced that you’ve done an excellent job. And then you sit down and see the sunlight streaming in, and you cannot believe how dirty and smudgy it still looks. That was Isaiah’s experience in these verses. He came into the presence of a holy God and the brilliant lig...

Isaiah 6:1 Uzziah had become king when he was 16 and reigned for 52 years. For much of that time the kingdom of Judah had thrived. Uzziah had listened to the prophet Zechariah and walked in the ways of the Lord. But later on in his reign he had become arrogant and, on one occasion, he went into the temple to burn incense, a task which only priests could perform. Uzziah was struck down with leprosy...