Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

John 14:4-6  Jesus said: “You know the way to where I am going.”  “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me.” As Jesus prepared his disciples for his death, he assured them that although he was going away from them there were perfe...

John 14:1-3   “Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.” Jesus spoke these words of comfort to his disciples just before his Crucifix...

This is Be still and Know on this very sad day. Let’s hear from the Bible together. Isaiah 6:1 "It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple." The death of King Uzziah after 52 years as King of Judah was a decisive moment in Isaiah’s life. Suddenly everything changed. For all of us the death of Queen Elizabet...

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 even planned to kill their brother. Throughout history, jealousy has destroyed many lives and the writer of Proverbs was fully aware of its terrible power. But j...

Proverbs 27:1 'Don’t brag about tomorrow, since you don’t know what the day will bring.' Life is so completely unpredictable that the encouragement to live for today has to be sound advice. We don’t know what today will contain let alone tomorrow! So bragging about what is going to happen tomorrow has to be completely foolish. In his letter, James describes a cocky businessman who has decided that...

Proverbs 26:20 'Fire goes out without wood, and quarrels disappear when gossip stops.' I wonder what the writer of Proverbs would have made of social media! His words couldn’t be more relevant to today’s world, in which gossip can be communicated faster than lightning. Words have always had the power to destroy and many of the Proverbs focus on the danger of them being used carelessly. The trouble...

Proverbs 26:17 'Interfering in someone else’s argument is as foolish as yanking a dog’s ears.' For nearly 16 years, we enjoyed the company of Zephyr, a beautiful yellow Labrador. When he joined us as a little puppy our three children were all at home and, for those years, he became every inch a member of the family. He was extraordinarily patient with us all. If we accidentally knocked into him, h...

Jeremiah 29:4,5,7 This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says to all the captives he has exiled to Babylon from Jerusalem: “Build homes, and plan to stay. Plant gardens, and eat the food they produce... And work for the peace and prosperity of the city where I sent you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, for its welfare will determine your welfare.” To cut a long story short...

Jeremiah 18:1-4 The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over. I am sorry to inform you that my own attempts at pottery were a miserable failure....

Jeremiah 17:21-23 'This is what the Lord says: Listen to my warning! Stop carrying on your trade at Jerusalem’s gates on the Sabbath day. Do not do your work on the Sabbath, but make it a holy day. I gave this command to your ancestors, but they did not listen or obey. They stubbornly refused to pay attention or accept my discipline.' We were reflecting yesterday on the importance of maintaining g...

Jeremiah 17:7-8 'Blessed are those who trust in the Lord and have made the Lord their hope and confidence. They are like trees planted along a riverbank, with roots that reach deep into the water. Such trees are not bothered by the heat or worried by long months of drought. Their leaves stay green, and they never stop producing fruit.' We’ve all got a choice. We can rely on human beings or on God....

Jeremiah 14:14 The Lord said, “These prophets are telling lies in my name. I did not send them or tell them to speak. I did not give them any messages. They prophesy of visions and revelations they have never seen or heard. They speak foolishness made up in their own lying hearts.” Jeremiah had some very harsh things to say. He needed everyone to know that if they didn’t change their ways, they wo...

Jeremiah 13:16 'Give glory to the Lord your God before it is too late. Acknowledge him before he brings darkness upon you, causing you to stumble and fall on the darkening mountains. For then, when you look for light, you will find only terrible darkness and gloom.' It may just be me, but I suspect that we are all good at putting things off. It may be filling in our tax returns, making it right wi...

Jeremiah 10:12-13 'The Lord made the earth by his power, and he preserves it by his wisdom. With his own understanding he stretched out the heavens. When he speaks in the thunder, the heavens roar with rain. He causes the clouds to rise over the earth. He sends the lightning with the rain and releases the wind from his storehouses.' The fact that God created the world is the foundation of the Bibl...

This is what the Lord says: “Do not act like the other nations, who try to read their future in the stars. Do not be afraid of their predictions, even though other nations are terrified by them.” If you have ever had a look at a horoscope you will probably have concluded that it is all a lot of nonsense. They may have told you that today is a good day to make friends, avoid puddles or plan your ho...

Jeremiah 9:23-24 The Lord says, “Don’t let the wise boast in their wisdom, or the powerful boast in their power, or the rich boast in their riches. But those who wish to boast should boast in this alone; that they truly know me and understand that I am the Lord.” I wonder what you boast about? What are the things that give you most pride and pleasure? For many people it’s their family, for others...

Jeremiah 8:21 'I hurt with the hurt of my people. I mourn and am overcome with grief.' The power of Jeremiah’s prophecy lies in the fact that he didn’t stand at a distance from the people. He completely identified himself with them. Their hurts were his hurts; he described himself as being heartbroken and having grief beyond healing. (Jeremiah 8:18). But Jeremiah knew that the Israelites were suff...

Jeremiah 7:5-6 I will be merciful only if you stop your evil thoughts and deeds and start treating each other with justice; only if you stop exploiting foreigners, orphans, and widows; only if you stop your murdering; and only if you stop harming yourselves by worshiping idols. Most of the time we probably think of justice as being something which is in the hands of other people. We look to the po...

Jeremiah 6:16 This is what the Lord says: “Stop at the crossroads and look around. Ask for the old, godly way, and walk in it. Travel its path, and you will find rest for your souls.” To be honest, I struggle to remember the days before I used satellite navigation. However, I drove for many years before the luxury of these amazing devices, and I would often come to a crossroads and wonder which wa...

Jeremiah 3:22 “My wayward children,” says the Lord, “come back to me, and I will heal your wayward hearts.” Jeremiah went to great lengths to show just how far people had wandered away from God. He used incredibly strong language which might make us blush at times. He talked about them acting like a prostitute running after many lovers, and pictured them sitting by the road waiting for customers (...

Jeremiah 2:13 The Lord says “For my people have done two evil things: They have abandoned me— the fountain of living water. And they have dug for themselves cracked cisterns that can hold no water at all!” In a country like Palestine, cisterns are a wonderful way of storing water for the long, hot, dry summers. The porous limestone rock needs to be lined with plaster in order to make the cistern w...

Jeremiah 1:9-10 Then the Lord reached out and touched my mouth and said, “Look, I have put my words in your mouth! Today I appoint you to stand up against nations and kingdoms. Some you must uproot and tear down, destroy and overthrow. Others you must build up and plant.” Being a prophet was a tough job and Jeremiah was just about to learn how demanding it was going to be. We all love sharing good...

Jeremiah 1:6-7 “O Sovereign Lord,” I said, “I can’t speak for you! I’m too young!” The Lord replied, “Don’t say, ‘I’m too young,’ for you must go wherever I send you and say whatever I tell you.” Excuses, excuses! Jeremiah followed in the well-worn tradition of trying to avoid doing what God was calling him to do. His words remind us of Moses who responded to God’s call from the burning bush with...

1 John 5:21 'Dear children, keep away from anything that might take God’s place in your hearts.' Every day we are all being bombarded with influences. Family, friends, television, internet, advertising, books, social media and radio are all trying to claim our attention and suggest different ways in which we should be thinking. Much of the time we don’t even notice it’s happening, but the truth is...

1 John 5:14-15 'We are confident that God hears us whenever we ask for anything that pleases him. And since we know he hears us when we make our requests, we also know that he will give us what we ask for.' Prayer is of absolutely crucial importance to our lives. It has been wisely said that you and I are as strong as our prayer lives and no stronger. Every part of our lives depends upon prayer, s...