Be Still And Know

Psalm 96.1-3 NLT 'Sing a new song to the Lord! Let the whole earth sing to the Lord! Sing to the Lord; praise his name. Each day proclaim the good news that he saves. Publish his glorious deeds among the nations. Tell everyone about the amazing things he does.' Many people see life as being divided into two categories – the sacred and the secular. The sacred is, for example, what we do when we go to church and worship God, and the secular is our normal daily routine of family life, going to work and relaxing. This way of looking at life is strongly Greek in origin and is very different from the Hebrew thinking which we see reflected in this psalm. The psalmist had no thought of confining his worship to his visits to the Temple! He was eager to proclaim the good news of God’s salvation every day. Whatever he was doing he wanted to declare the greatness of God and encourage other people to do the same. The idea of living in two separate compartments was completely unknown to him. When we see God at work in ever

Psalm 95.6-7 NLT 'Come, let us worship and bow down. Let us kneel before the Lord our maker, for he is our God. We are the people he watches over, the flock under his care. If only you would listen to his voice today!' These words of invitation are often used at the beginning of church services to remind us of how wonderful God is, and how much he deserves our worship. But although God is perfect and is worthy of our complete devotion, he will never impose himself on us. It is up to us to respond, and listening is a crucial part of that response. The sad reality is that we often do not listen and the psalmist reflects on a time when the people of Israel refused to listen. They were at the start of their wilderness wanderings and there was no water to drink. I don’t want to minimise the acute difficulty of such a dilemma, but the people’s response was to complain and not to listen to God. Although he had miraculously delivered them from slavery in Egypt, and provided regular food for them through the provi

Psalm 94.18-19 NLT I cried out, “I am slipping!” but your unfailing love, O Lord, supported me. When doubts filled my mind, your comfort gave me renewed hope and cheer. Sharing honestly and openly what God has done in our lives is incredibly powerful. The most wonderful thing about testimony is that nobody can deny it. Other people might choose to interpret our experiences differently from us, but the moment we declare our personal accounts of how we have seen God at work in our lives they are bound to take note of what we have said. I draw the conclusion from this that we need to give one another generous opportunities to share what God has done. Sharing our testimonies is good at every level. In a large congregation they can inspire faith and stimulate worship. However, it is particularly good when we share our experiences in small groups where we can be totally honest with one another and where one person’s testimony can trigger other people to share what they have been through. But probably the mo

Psalm 93.4 NLT 'Mightier than the violent raging of the seas, mightier than the breakers on the shore— the Lord above is mightier than these!' I was brought up by the sea and have always enjoyed the sight of waves breaking on the shore. I love the rhythm of the waves and the drama as they crash onto the beach in their own unique way. There is a timelessness about waves, and it is easy to understand why the psalmists often refer to them. But, however powerful and violent the sea might be, the psalmists insist that God is even more powerful. They often remind us that God is incomparably great. However powerful anything or anyone might be, God is always greater and stronger. Whatever threat you are facing, God is more than able to cope. I wonder what challenges you are facing at the moment. They may be connected with your family, work, church, neighbours, community or something else. Life in our broken world inevitably produces a stream of challenges for all of us. And when we think beyond our immediate lives, w

Psalm 92.1-3 NLT 'It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to the Most High. It is good to proclaim your unfailing love in the morning, your faithfulness in the evening, accompanied by a ten-stringed instrument, a harp, and the melody of a lyre.' Throughout the Psalms, we are continually reminded of how good it is to worship God. In Psalm 84.10 the psalmist says that he would rather spend a single day in the presence of God than a thousand anywhere else! Our verses today remind us of the importance of worshipping God throughout the day. Worship needs to be woven into the fabric of our lives. It isn’t something that we can do occasionally or half-heartedly. It needs to claim the best of our energies and attention. Worship is of such huge importance because absolutely every aspect of life is affected by it. The thought of worship being confined to a couple of hours in church once a week is completely foreign to the Bible. When we worship, we declare the greatness of God and seek to bring our lives

Psalm 91.2 NLT 'This I declare about the Lord: He alone is my refuge, my place of safety; he is my God, and I trust him.' I will never forget where I was when I heard the news of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center in 2001. I was buying carpet with my wife in a large store in Exeter and was standing at the till. A woman was describing to the shop assistant the awful events in such a way that I assumed that she was talking about a film that she had recently seen. Such things don’t happen in real life. Or so I thought! But as I listened to the conversation it suddenly became clear that she was talking about a real event, and the horror of it started to sink in. Thousands of people were snatched away in an instant. All of them had gone to work that day with the not unreasonable expectation that they would return home safe and well. But they didn’t. Such events are exceptional, thank God, but we all live in a precarious world where none of us enjoys complete safety and security. In such a world it is import

Psalm 90.10 and 12 NLT 'Seventy years are given to us! Some even live to eighty. But even the best years are filled with pain and trouble; soon they disappear, and we fly away. Teach us to realise the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom.' It’s wonderful that so many people are living to the age of 100. In the UK there are more than 15,000 centenarians and that figure is about double the number twenty years ago. But such long lives are as nothing when placed on the timeline of history or when we think of our God, for whom a thousand years are like a day. So it is important for us all to listen hard to the psalmist. He observes that seventy years is a typical life span, and that some even reach eighty. In the light of this, he asks God to teach us to realise that life is brief. That could sound sad and morbid but that would be to forget that every single day of life is a gift that we couldn’t possibly deserve. Facing up to our mortality is actually a very positive thing to do. When we accept that our

Psalm 89.8 NLT 'O Lord God of Heaven’s Armies! Where is there anyone as mighty as you, O Lord? You are entirely faithful.' Faithfulness is a wonderful word. To find someone who is absolutely trustworthy and dependable is an incredible blessing and the psalmist is convinced that God is exactly that. He looks into the heavens and reflects on the awesomeness of creation and concludes that God is entirely faithful, unlike anyone else. This is the time of the year when I seem to have a string of insurance renewals. I like the security that insurance gives and am more than happy to pay up. But we only need insurance because we live in a world where there is so much uncertainty. Things break and people let us down and we need to have the cushion of insurance to keep life going. But when we look to God we need to take out no insurance against the possibility that he might let us down. We can lean with all our weight on him, knowing that he will never fail us. I love Deuteronomy 33.26-27 where Moses, like the psal

Matthew 28.8-9 NLT 'The women ran quickly from the tomb. They were very frightened but also filled with great joy, and they rushed to give the disciples the angel’s message. And as they went, Jesus met them and greeted them. And they ran to him, grasped his feet, and worshiped him.' The women who found the empty tomb on the first Easter Sunday morning clearly experienced a riot of emotions. They had got up early to anoint the body of Jesus because this was the first opportunity to do so after the sabbath. Their astonishment that the stone of the tomb had been rolled away was then compounded by meeting an angel whose face shone like lightning and whose clothing was as white as snow. The angel informed them that Jesus had risen from the dead, just as he had promised, and told them to go and tell the disciples. As they ran off, Matthew records that they were very frightened but also filled with great joy. This sounds like a considerable understatement! And amidst this tumult of emotions they then met Jesus h

Matthew 27.57-60 NLT 'As evening approached, Joseph, a rich man from Arimathea who had become a follower of Jesus, went to Pilate and asked for Jesus’ body. And Pilate issued an order to release it to him. Joseph took the body and wrapped it in a long sheet of clean linen cloth. He placed it in his own new tomb, which had been carved out of the rock. Then he rolled a great stone across the entrance and left.' We know very little about Joseph of Arimathea. The Gospel of Mark tells us that he was an honoured member of the high council of the Jews, and that he was waiting for the kingdom of God to come. The Gospel of Luke comments that he was a good and righteous man and the Gospel of John informs us that he was a secret disciple of Jesus because he feared the Jewish leaders. But that’s all we know. However, this brief account of him going to Pilate and asking for the body of Jesus reveals that he was a man of exceptional courage. Such an initiative could easily have exposed him to enormous risk both from the Ro

Matthew 27.54 NLT The Roman officer and the other soldiers at the crucifixion were terrified by the earthquake and all that had happened. They said, “This man truly was the Son of God!” When Jesus died on the cross at three o’clock in the afternoon, the curtain in the sanctuary of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom and there was a great earthquake. It’s no wonder that the soldiers, tough as they were, were terrified by what saw and heard. We need to be very grateful to the Gospel writers for recording so much of what took place, but there is so much more that we would love to know. If it had happened today one can imagine news agencies interviewing everyone in sight and getting film footage of every part of the day. I find it fascinating that the Gospel writers tell us nothing of the response of the religious people. We know that some of the Jewish leaders were very sympathetic to Jesus. I wonder what Nicodemus or Joseph of Arimathea thought? We are told nothing. And what about the disciples? W

Matthew 26.26 NLT As they were eating, Jesus took some bread and blessed it. Then he broke it in pieces and gave it to the disciples, saying, “Take this and eat it, for this is my body.” The Old Testament prophets frequently communicated their message by actions. They are often called acted parables. Through their actions they powerfully proclaimed their message in a way that was both clear and unforgettable. In the Gospels, we see Jesus doing exactly the same thing. On Palm Sunday his entry into Jerusalem on a donkey powerfully declared that he was both a king and a man of peace. He came in humility and gentleness. Now, on the night before his crucifixion, Jesus shares the Passover meal with his disciples and declares, in the breaking of bread, that this represents his broken body. The Passover meal is an annual opportunity for Jews to revisit the Israelite’s miraculous liberation from Egypt. That historic event proved for all time that God is a God of salvation. He is able to do things which are humanly

Matthew 26.7 NLT 'While Jesus was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume and poured it over his head.' Things were hotting up. Jesus had launched a tirade against the religious leaders and they, in turn, were now absolutely committed to seeing him put to death. We learn that they had a secret meeting at the home of the High Priest, Caiaphas, in order to plan how they might bring this about. Amidst all of this ferment we go to a home in the village of Bethany and meet a woman performing the most amazing act of devotion to Jesus. At the time it was quite usual for a Jewish woman to carry a little alabaster jar of precious perfume around her neck. This perfume could be incredibly valuable and in the Gospels of Mark and John we are told that it was worth 300 denarii. That would be about the same as someone would earn in a year! Just imagine! To say that her gift was generous would be a major understatement. It was a phenomenal act of devotion, and we needn’t be surprised t

Matthew 22.37-40 NLT Jesus replied, “‘You must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. A second is equally important: ‘Love your neighbour as yourself.’ The entire law and all the demands of the prophets are based on these two commandments.” The battle of words between Jesus and the Jewish leaders had got to fever pitch. They had challenged him about his authority and the Sadducees had just come up with a really awkward question about the resurrection. Now the Pharisees got together to push Jesus to the limit. They asked him a question that they often discussed amongst themselves, namely, “what is the most important commandment in the law of Moses?” If Jesus tripped up on this question, then they could label him as a blasphemer. But Jesus gave them the classic Jewish answer. Loving God with everything you’ve got is the first commandment and the second is loving your neighbour as yourself. One imagines that Jesus’ questioners we

Matthew 21.12-13 NLT Jesus entered the Temple and began to drive out all the people buying and selling animals for sacrifice. He knocked over the tables of the money changers and the chairs of those selling doves. He said to them, “The Scriptures declare, ‘My Temple will be called a house of prayer,’ but you have turned it into a den of thieves!” The joyful celebration of Palm Sunday is followed by something completely different. Jesus walked into Jerusalem and was angered by the sight of the temple precinct crowded with traders. This was nothing new. In order for worshippers to make their sacrifices, there was a rule that they had to purchase their birds or animals in the coinage of Tyre. They therefore needed the money changers to convert their Roman and Greek coins into that currency. This elaborate system was carefully developed over many years but Jesus’ concern was that it totally obscured the real purpose of the temple. Instead of it being a house of prayer it had been turned into a noisy shopping mall

Matthew 21.8-9 NLT Most of the crowd spread their garments on the road ahead of him, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. Jesus was in the centre of the procession, and the people all around him were shouting, “Praise God for the Son of David! Blessings on the one who comes in the name of the Lord! Praise God in highest heaven!” At the beginning of Matthew’s gospel we read about the Magi, important people from the east who came to visit Jesus. They came because they had seen a star which made it clear to them that a king had been born. At the time, their belief couldn’t have seemed further from the truth. Born to poor parents in a cattle shed, nothing gave the appearance of Jesus belonging to royalty. And now, towards the end of Jesus’ life, we see him being greeted as royalty. Spreading garments on the road and cutting down tree branches was the way in which you would welcome a king and the crowd acknowledged that here was the one who stood in the line of King David. But here w

Matthew 20.32-34 NLT 'When Jesus heard the blind men, he stopped and called, “What do you want me to do for you?” “Lord,” they said, “we want to see!” Jesus felt sorry for them and touched their eyes. Instantly they could see! Then they followed him.' Jesus has just informed his disciples that he is on the way to Jerusalem, where he will be handed over to the Romans to be crucified. You would understand if he became preoccupied with these great matters and avoided any distractions. But, as he and his disciples passed through Jericho on their way to Jerusalem, they heard two blind men crying out for attention. Most people would have hurried by, but not Jesus. He stopped and gave them his full attention. This reminds us of the way in which Jesus had time for the little children, even though the disciples assumed that he wouldn’t want to be bothered by them. It’s easy for all of us to get so busy in life that we leave no time to stop and see the needs around us. We are so preoccupied with our own agenda that we

Matthew 20.26-28 NLT Jesus said, “Whoever wants to be a leader among you must be your servant, and whoever wants to be first among you must become your slave. For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.” Parents always want the best for their children. So we shouldn’t be too surprised that James and John’s mother came to Jesus and asked for them to have the best seats in the new kingdom. Jesus pointed out that she had got it all wrong. In the Kingdom of God, the goal was to be the last not the first, and to be a servant rather than a master. And, incredibly, Jesus himself – who had every right to be generously served – came in order to be a servant. Let’s be honest. We all love to be served. We enjoy the thought of being in a beautiful hotel where our needs are perfectly met and where we have absolutely no work to do. Such experiences are right and good, but the way of life to which Jesus calls us is the exact opposite. He calls us to po

Matthew 20.1-2 NLT “For the Kingdom of Heaven is like the landowner who went out early one morning to hire workers for his vineyard. He agreed to pay the normal daily wage and sent them out to work.” All of Jesus’ parables make us sit up. In their very different ways they are deeply challenging and surprising and this particular parable is bound to offend anyone who has a natural sense of justice. A landowner hired workers for his vineyard at various times of the day. Some were hired early morning and then others at 9 o’clock, 3 o’clock and 5 o’clock. So far so good. The problem is that the landowner decided to pay them all exactly the same amount. They all received the full day’s wage. The people who had sweated through the whole day felt that this was profoundly unfair and I think any trades union official would heartily agree. However, the landowner pointed out that he had every right to do whatever he wanted with his own money. It’s not hard to understand what Jesus was saying. He was saying that ever

Matthew 19.23-24 NLT Then Jesus said to his disciples, “I tell you the truth, it is very hard for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. I’ll say it again—it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God!” The disciples were deeply shocked by Jesus’ words. Jews saw wealth as a sign of God’s blessing and so they were confused by the thought that riches could make it more difficult to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. They would have assumed that money made it easier to gain God’s favour. But notice that Jesus wasn’t saying that wealth made it impossible for someone to enter the Kingdom, just more difficult. We meet a number of wealthy followers of Jesus. Nicodemus is a good example, along with Joseph of Arimathea, who provided the tomb after Jesus’ burial. It’s also interesting to note that the first convert in Europe was Lydia, a business woman. Jesus wasn’t saying that it was impossible for a wealthy person to enter his kingdom, but it would