Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Psalm 103:2-4

Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.

This psalm begins with King David talking to himself! He called to mind how his life had been wonderfully blessed by God and concluded that his whole being needed to be involved in giving thanks for God’s generosity to him. In the words of the famous hymn ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’, he had been ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven. Surely he had his adultery with Bathsheba in mind as he wrote this psalm. He had foolishly strayed from God’s way, and one disaster followed another until he repented and received God’s healing and forgiveness. As he reflected on how God had dealt with him, he not only praised the Lord but also urged the whole world to join him! In the final verse of the psalm, he proclaimed: “Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom” (Psalm 103:22).

It's important that we talk to ourselves! I know it’s often seen as the first sign of madness, but I much prefer the observation that it’s actually the first sign of gladness! It’s good to remind ourselves of the ways in which the Lord has blessed our lives. We may not have known the dramatic ups and downs of King David’s life, but we have all had moments of success and failure, of blessing and disobedience, of fulfilment and loss, and through it all God has been faithful. We need to ensure we are continually giving thanks to God for all that He has done in our lives and taking the opportunity to encourage others to do the same.

Question

As you look back through your life, what are the main reasons why you want to praise God?

Prayer

Lord God, I thank You that You have been so generous to me. Help me to make praise increasingly central to my life. Amen

Psalm 101:1-2

I will sing of your love and justice, LORD. I will praise you with songs. I will be careful to live a blameless life—when will you come to help me?

I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.

Here, David reflects on his responsibility as king to care for the whole of society and to ensure that justice prevails. The final verse of the psalm gives us a powerful picture of his daily work “to ferret out the wicked and free the city of the Lord from their grip” (Psalm 101:8). It was no easy task, and he knew it would be impossible if he wasn’t practising justice and integrity at home. Whenever we are told that a politician’s private life is their own personal matter and of no consequence to their public duties, we know that they are talking nonsense! King David was far from perfect, but he was clear that it was vital for him to live a consistent life.

Living a consistent life is not easy! It’s no wonder that when David proclaims his intention to be careful in living a blameless life, he asks the question: “when will you come to help me?” He knew he couldn’t do this by himself. He needed God’s inspiration and strength to live a consistent life. I don’t know what your life looks like. You will have tensions, blessings and challenges that are very different from my own, but I do know that only God can enable you to live a life of consistent integrity.

These thoughts should spur us to pray for all those who live in the public eye. I believe we have a special responsibility to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who bear public responsibilities and whose lives are always under the spotlight. Let’s pray they will know God’s daily renewing strength so that there is no gap between their home and public lives.

Question

How can you ensure that you live for God both at home and beyond?

Prayer

Loving Father, thank You that You are present in every part of my life, and that You give me the strength to live for You, whatever the circumstances and pressures. Amen

2 Thessalonians 3:16

Now may the Lord of peace himself give you his peace at all times and in every situation.

As Paul brought this letter to an end, he gave them this wonderful greeting. I love these words and, over the years, when I have sent a card to someone, I have very often quoted this verse. What greater blessing could you seek for another person than that they would know the Lord’s peace at all times and in every situation?

Peace needs to be carefully understood. Alexander Maclaren, the famous Victorian preacher, got to the heart of the issue when he wrote: “Peace comes not from the absence of trouble, but from the presence of God.” It is precisely when we live in close partnership with God that we discover what real peace is, and that it is able to withstand any challenge. At the heart of a hurricane, there is complete stillness and quiet. While destruction swirls around, at the eye of the storm there is peace. Miraculously, that is what God is able to give us as we place our trust in him. As Jesus said to His fearful disciples just before His death: “I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift that the world cannot give. So don’t be troubled or afraid” (John 14:27).

Peace is God’s gift to us when we place ourselves completely in His hands. While we are still struggling and trying to make peace, we will never find it. It is only as we recognise that God is the source of peace that we will discover it for ourselves. Jean-Paul Sartre, the French philosopher, put it well when he observed: “You will never find peace and happiness until you are ready to commit yourself to something worth dying for.”

Question

What has been your experience of God’s peace?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, I thank You that You are the source of true peace and that You love to share Your peace with all those who put their trust in You. Fill me, and those around me, with Your peace today. Amen

2 Thessalonians 3:11-13

We hear that some of you are living idle lives, refusing to work and meddling in other people’s business. We command such people and urge them in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ to settle down and work to earn their own living. As for the rest of you, dear brothers and sisters, never get tired of doing good.

There were people in the church in Thessalonica who thought they were so spiritual that they should spend their days waiting for the return of Jesus and not going to work. Because they didn’t work, they became a burden on the other believers who they thought of as less spiritual. Worse than that, instead of being busy workers, they became busybodies. They spent their time interfering in other people’s lives and causing grief. As CH Spurgeon, the Victorian preacher, said: “Some temptations come to the industrious, but all temptations attack the idle.”

Paul responded to these lazy people by pointing to his own example. He had worked hard day and night in order not to be a burden to others. He was convinced that everyone should work hard and never grow tired of doing good.

The problem that Paul faced in Thessalonica isn’t one that I’ve encountered, but his teaching does help us to reflect on the issue of work. Work is often spoken of as if it is a great evil which needs to be avoided. The good times are weekends and holidays, and the objective is to get to retirement as quickly as we can. However, God looks to us to be busy and to use the gifts and abilities that He has given us to bless other people.

1 Corinthians chapter 15 takes us to the heart of Paul’s teaching about the resurrection. Having praised God for the victory that He has won over sin and death, he challenged his readers to work hard for God. He wrote: “Always work enthusiastically for the Lord, for you know that nothing you do for the Lord is ever useless” (1 Corinthians 15:58). Life changes for all of us but whoever we are and however old we are, God calls us to be busy workers for Him – and never busybodies.

Question

What is the work that God has called you to do?

Prayer

Loving God, thank You for the work that You have asked me to do. Help me to do it with enthusiasm and determination. Amen

2 Thessalonians 3:1

Finally, dear brothers and sisters, we ask you to pray for us. Pray that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly and be honoured wherever it goes, just as when it came to you.

As Paul brings this letter to a close, we see into his heart. He asks the Thessalonians to pray for him. He could go into some detail about his specific needs, but he doesn’t. He immediately invites prayer that the Lord’s message will spread rapidly. A literal translation of the Greek would be “that the word of the Lord may run”. Because Paul so often used athletic imagery, he was almost certainly trying to convey his desire that the good news should be spread quickly and effectively. He longed for the message to be respected and accepted by as many people as possible. That’s what had happened when he’d visited Thessalonica, and he was eager that it should happen in the same way in the much tougher context of Corinth, from which he was writing this letter.

I believe that we need to be praying today with a new urgency “that the word of the Lord may run”. It’s all too easy for us to accept our multi-religious society and to lose our passion for sharing the good news of Jesus. We are called to show grace and generosity to people of other religions. It is good that we get to know them, befriend them and embrace opportunities for working alongside them. However, we are also called out of our love for them to be faithful to our Lord who came to die on a cross that they might experience His forgiveness and new life.

When we pray for one another, we should keep the focus on the spreading of the good news. Let’s pray that we will all become more urgent in our evangelism and increasingly eager to see word of the Lord run throughout our society.

Question

What do you find the biggest challenges to sharing your faith with others?

Prayer

Lord God, I ask You to give me a renewed determination to share Your good news with those I meet each day. Amen

2 Thessalonians 2:16-17

Now may our Lord Jesus Christ himself and God our Father, who loved us and by his grace gave us eternal comfort and a wonderful hope, comfort you and strengthen you in every good thing you do and say.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, our thoughts about the future have a huge impact on how we live today. That’s probably most easily seen when we are worried about something – perhaps a visit to the dentist, a meeting with our boss, or a tense issue in the family which needs to be resolved. In this letter, Paul was particularly concerned that the Thessalonian church should have a clear understanding of the future that God had in store for them. He was quite clear that the return of Jesus was at the heart of this, but he was alarmed that some people had decided this was a reason to give up their jobs. Paul knew that the believers needed to keep committed to their regular employment alongside a confidence that the Lord might return at any time.

Paul wanted his readers to look to the future with hope because the best was yet to be. It’s really important that we handle the word hope carefully. Most of the time, there is a maybe in our voice when we use the word. We hope it will be sunny tomorrow or that the train will run on time. We would be delighted if these things happened, but we’ve lived long enough to know that they might not work out like that. However, there is no maybe in the hope of the New Testament. We are talking about certainties. Because we believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and know that our relationship with Him is eternal, we look death in the face with peace and confidence.

The biggest lie materialism tells us is that this life is all that there is. It’s very easy for us to fall for that lie and to become sucked into the world’s way of thinking. The hope we have in Christ lasts for time and eternity, and Paul wants that knowledge to transform the way in which we live our daily lives.

Question

What impact does your eternal security have on your daily life?

Prayer

Lord Jesus, thank You for the gift of eternal life. I pray that the way in which I live today will reflect the fact that I have a totally secure future. Amen

2 Thessalonians 1:11

We keep on praying for you, asking our God to enable you to live a life worthy of his call. May he give you the power to accomplish all the good things your faith prompts you to do.

It is often, and rightly, pointed out that the Christian life is a marathon and not a sprint. Keeping something up isn’t too difficult if you are doing it for just a short while, but keeping going as a Christian for years on end is a different matter. Living for Christ consistently in the face of all the ups and downs of life is not easy. How do you keep up your faith when you are in pain or you have financial problems or family disputes or your work is difficult?

Paul’s answer is that God enables us to keep going. He gives us the power to do all those good things that He has called us to do, so we must not think of the Christian life as being a heroic solo effort. Although we might feel alone at times, God is beside us and we are never without Christian brothers and sisters, even if they may be far away.

The problem with our strength is that one day we may feel able to face every challenge, and the next we might be feeling limp and useless. It’s important that we keep our eyes fixed on God, who is entirely different. He never gets tired or has an off day. Isaiah wrote: “He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31).

As we pray for one another, let’s specifically pray that our Christian brothers and sisters will know that God is continually strengthening them as they live for Him.

Question

In what specific way do you need spiritual strength at the moment?

Prayer

Lord God, I need Your strength today. Please come to me in the power of Your Holy Spirit and make me strong for You. Amen

2 Thessalonians 1:3-4

Dear brothers and sisters, we can’t help but thank God for you, because your faith is flourishing and your love for one another is growing. We proudly tell God’s other churches about your endurance and faithfulness in all the persecutions and hardships you are suffering.

From this bold introduction to Paul’s second letter to the church in Thessalonica, you might have thought that they were perfect, but they weren’t! As the letter progresses, he addresses a number of issues. They had got confused about the timing of the Lord’s return and many of them had become lazy, using the excuse that there was no point in getting a job if the Lord might come back at any moment. They were far from perfect, but there was still much to celebrate, and Paul did so with confidence. Their faith was deepening, their love for one another was growing and the way in which they were standing up to persecution was impressive.

It's so easy for us to focus on the failings of other people. Because churches are made up of sinners, we shouldn’t be surprised that there is often misunderstanding, tension and difficulty among Christians. Sad as that is, it is an inevitable part of living in a broken world. We must be careful not to focus our attention on the negatives. We need to encourage one another and so, amid the disappointments, we should look carefully for those things that we can praise and celebrate in one another.

Paul was clearly convinced that encouragement was the right approach. I think the most stunning illustration of this is found in his opening words to the church in Corinth. In his first letter he reveals such a long list of their failures that it might feel as if they got absolutely nothing right. Their worship was chaotic; they were divided; they totally misunderstood and mishandled spiritual gifts; and to cap it all they had a case of incest in the church which they hadn’t addressed. It was a very gloomy situation, but Paul began the letter by saying: “I always thank my God for you and for the gracious gifts he has given you” (1 Corinthians 1:4). What a wonderful attitude! When we are feeling glum and depressed about the failures of our fellow Christians, we would do well to remember Paul’s example.

Question

In what ways would you praise the members of your church?

Prayer

Lord God, thank You for the blessing of belonging to Your Church. Help me to celebrate the qualities of my Christian brothers and sisters and to forgive their shortcomings. Amen

Proverbs 16:32

Better to be patient than powerful; better to have self-control than to conquer a city.

It’s good for us to ask the question: “What matters most in life?” Time and again, the book of Proverbs helps us to think this through. Many people would assume that it is good to have control of people and even whole communities. Some would want to be a powerful politician or the head of a major company. To be in charge of a whole city might seem like an amazing and very desirable achievement, but the writer observes that it is far more important to have patience and self-control than to have great power and influence. He is talking about what the New Testament describes as the fruit of the Holy Spirit.

The Bible never suggests that it is wrong to have wealth or power. If either have come your way, you should give thanks to God for them. What matters is that we put them in their proper place. They are nowhere near as important as living for God with the love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control which He gives to all those who walk in His ways. Money and power come and go. They are temporary. But the fruit of the Spirit is of a completely different nature, being as eternal and indestructible as God Himself.

As ever, the focus of the book of Proverbs is on helping the reader to live life to the full. The writer’s many severe words of warning are always with the intention of helping the reader to avoid pitfalls and disaster. He sees living for God as the most exciting and desirable way of life which brings blessing to us and all those around us. Choosing God’s way is often not the easiest path, but it’s always the best.

Question

Be honest. What matters most to you in your life?

Prayer

Thank You Lord that You love us so much that You share the unvarnished truth with us. Help us to seek the fruit of Your Holy Spirit before anything else. Amen

Proverbs 13:11

Wealth from get-rich-quick schemes quickly disappears; wealth from hard work grows over time.

Work is often spoken about negatively. It is seen as something that gets in the way of the really exciting things of life. It needs to be avoided, and if that can’t be achieved, one should aim to retire as early as possible. This thinking is in complete contrast with Proverbs, where work is seen as something inherently good. It is worklessness and laziness which are to be avoided at all costs.

It is interesting that the writer of Proverbs refers to get-rich-quick schemes. This all sounds very modern, but throughout history people have wanted to find short cuts to wealth. There’s nothing new about laziness! God wants us to work hard because it not only provides for our needs and the needs of other people but also enables us to bless others with the gifts that God has given us. We have all been given the ability to enhance the lives of people around us, and God looks to us to work hard at doing so. The apostle Paul wrote: “So let’s not get tired of doing what is good. At just the right time we will reap a harvest of blessing if we don’t give up” (Galatians 6:9).

Over the years, I have been particularly blessed by the way I have seen retired people working hard for God. At a time when they had no pressure upon them to earn money, they wanted to make sure they were still being productive for God. I have been inspired by their example. Working hard is good at any time of life, but it needs to be added that working too hard is never what God intends. Overwork causes tension and pressure that is never God’s desire. Whatever our age, we need to find a balance between the work that God calls us to do and times of leisure and refreshment which allow us to continue to serve Him with confidence and enthusiasm.

Question

How well are you balancing your work and leisure?

Prayer

Loving God, thank You for the blessing of work. I pray Your blessing on those who struggle to find work, or who find their work difficult. Amen