Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Deuteronomy 4:29 NLT  'But from there you will search again for the Lord your God. And if you search for him with all your heart and soul, you will find him.' My walk with God can be like a game of hide-and-seek. God never disguises or hides from us, of course: instead, feeling embarrassed about meeting God, I can choose, as Adam and Eve did, to hide. Or I ignore God until I come to my senses or s...

Mark 4:37-38 NLT  But soon a fierce storm came up. High waves were breaking into the boat, and it began to fill with water. Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” How often do I sleepwalk through my days, failing to look for, let alone seek my Lord and saviour, in the circumsta...

Psalm 92:15 NLT  They will declare, “The Lord is just! He is my rock! There is no evil in him!” Who do you blame, when things go wrong? And why do we feel we need to do so? Non-Christians often say that God, if he exists, can only be evil, because of life’s tragic moments. For evil is the antithesis of the good, and what good God could countenance evil? This, however, still leaves the problem of w...

Psalm 92:14 NLT  'Even in old age they will still produce fruit; they will remain vital and green.' Are we planning on being productive, as we get older? Or will we become risk-averse, building defences around us, to keep going? This can mean that we become fruitless, at that stage of life when we have accumulated a tremendous amount of knowledge about the ways of God.  When I was growing up, we h...

Psalm 92:13 NLT  'For they are transplanted to the Lord’s own house. They flourish in the courts of our God.' A desert Father once visited fourth-century priest and monk Abba  Moses , in search of enlightenment. Abba Moses simply said to him: “Go, sit in your cell, and your cell will teach you everything.” When the government took the step to move the UK into lockdown in an attempt to slow the spr...

Psalm 92:12 NLT  'But the godly will flourish like palm trees and grow strong like the cedars of Lebanon.' I have on my desk a wonderful photograph of a large, aged tree flourishing within a barren landscape. It is a Cedar of Lebanon growing within its Lebanese homeland. Perched on a rock escarpment it defies nature, and dwarfs all other vegetation surrounding it. It offers me a powerful reminder...

Psalm 92:11 NLT  'My eyes have seen the downfall of my enemies; my ears have heard the defeat of my wicked opponents.' Within our Christian context it is perhaps difficult to acknowledge our enemies. For we are constrained by Christ to love our  enemies . Here in the UK we are also taught to conceal our real feelings. Social interactions can easily be built upon insincerity. After a while we lose...

Isaiah 61:3 NLT  'To all who mourn in Israel, he will give a crown of beauty for ashes, a joyous blessing instead of mourning, festive praise instead of despair. In their righteousness, they will be like great oaks that the Lord has planted for his own glory.' Holding on to our faith when we face difficulties is hard. It is a wonder that we still encounter the beauty and presence of God even as ou...

Luke 10:33-34 NLT  'Then a despised Samaritan came along, and when he saw the man, he felt compassion for him. Going over to him, the Samaritan soothed his wounds with olive oil and wine and bandaged them. Then he put the man on his own donkey and took him to an inn, where he took care of him.' Compassion is to feel pity for someone else. It means to experience similar emotions as the sufferer doe...

Genesis 8:10-11 NLT  'After waiting another seven days, Noah released the dove again. This time the dove returned to him in the evening with a fresh olive leaf in its beak. Then Noah knew that the floodwaters were almost gone.' How did Noah feel when he knew the floodwaters were almost gone? Was he hopeful, or afraid? Earlier this year, as the coronavirus took hold, many people found themselves co...

Luke 18:13 NLT  But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, “O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.” In a number of liturgies the words, Kyrie eleieson, Christe eleison are said following the congregational prayer of confession. The words are Greek for: “Lord have mercy, Christ have mercy.” T...

Psalm 51:1-2 NLT  'Have mercy on me, O God, because of your unfailing love. Because of your great compassion, blot out the stain of my sins. Wash me clean from my guilt. Purify me from my sin.' Julius and Ethel  Rosenberg  were tried in 1950s America for espionage. The Manhattan Project, through which the USA developed the nuclear bomb, was top secret and the Rosenbergs were identified as Soviet s...

Hebrews 1:3 NLT  'The Son radiates God’s own glory and expresses the very character of God, and he sustains everything by the mighty power of his command. When he had cleansed us from our sins, he sat down in the place of honor at the right hand of the majestic God in heaven.' In certain Christian worship traditions the  Nicene  Creed is recited as part of the liturgy. It is a succinct declaration...

John 10:27-29 NLT  'My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they will never perish. No one can snatch them away from me, for my Father has given them to me, and he is more powerful than anyone else. No one can snatch them from the Father’s hand.' Do we get wiser as we get older? I have come to realise I am a wonderful expression of God’s creativi...

John 1:4-5 NLT  'The Word gave life to everything that was created, and his life brought light to everyone. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness can never extinguish it.' Bad news penetrates deeper than we can ever imagine. Our world slows, the voices around us fade and we become transfixed by the new reality we face. Every day, people receive distressing, often life-changing, news a...

Matthew 5:44-45 NLT  'But I say, love your enemies! Pray for those who persecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of your Father in heaven. For he gives his sunlight to both the evil and the good, and he sends rain on the just and the unjust alike.' Nothing perhaps illustrates the difference between the perception of God and humanity than sunshine. Here we discover that God sh...

Ecclesiastes 11:7-8 NLT  'Light is sweet; how pleasant to see a new day dawning. When people live to be very old, let them rejoice in every day of life. But let them also remember there will be many dark days. Everything still to come is meaningless.' How do you remember the summers of your childhood? I recall days of endless sunshine, playing outside with friends. Every morning, I simply pulled o...

Hebrews 10:35-36 NLT  'So do not throw away this confident trust in the Lord. Remember the great reward it brings you! Patient endurance is what you need now, so that you will continue to do God’s will. Then you will receive all that he has promised.' There was a time in my life when I used to react to the repetitive nature of life that returned unchanged each morning I woke. All I could see was s...

Philippians 1:6 NLT  'And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.' Our Oratory garden is never still. Plants are flowering and trees blossoming. As plants spread, we move them, to find the ideal space for their development. As disciples, we are the same. As a new Christian I thought the job...

Hebrews 4:14-16a NLT  'Since we have a great High Priest who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God.' Every Lent I ponder the temptations of Jesus. There, he was invited to satisfy his...

2 Timothy 1:8 NLT  'So never be ashamed to tell others about our Lord. And don’t be ashamed of me, either, even though I’m in prison for him. With the strength God gives you, be ready to suffer with me for the sake of the Good News.' Do you ever feel that, as a Christian, you are swimming against the tide? Our culture has largely abandoned the idea of God, and our faith is accepted only as a priva...

2 Timothy 1:6-7 NLT  'This is why I remind you to fan into flames the spiritual gift God gave you when I laid my hands on you. For God has not given us a spirit of fear and timidity, but of power, love, and self-discipline.' Years ago, I moved to Leeds for work. Just after I’d moved, my car died. Wondering how I’d get to work, everyone in church said: “Catch the bus.” This was a revelation. The bu...

1 Peter 1:6-7 NLT    'So be truly glad. There is wonderful joy ahead, even though you must endure many trials for a little while. These trials will show that your faith is genuine. It is being tested as fire tests and purifies gold – though your faith is far more precious than mere gold.'     If Peter is to be believed, all earthly trials are a means of testing our faith that it might grow deeper...

1 Peter 5:7-8 NLT    'Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you. Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour.'   As a young man I was all emotion; reactive, angry and self-conscious. My encounter with God was so very real the memory clings to me still, redolent with the great joy I experienced upon...

1 Corinthians 10:13 NLT    'The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, he will show you a way out so that you can endure.'    Temptation is an inner compulsion to do something. I can control it, until I give in to it. Then I am subject to its consequences in wa...