Be Still And Know

Daniel 1:17 God gave Daniel the special ability to interpret the meanings of visions and dreams. The book of Daniel transports us to the time when Nebuchadnezzar, the King of Babylon, invaded Judah and took thousands of its residents into exile. This happened in the 6th century BC. God had clearly prophesied that this would happen if the people failed to obey him, and Babylon’s victory was utterly humiliating. To be dragged hundreds of miles away to a completely unfamiliar place and culture represented Judah’s total failure. However, King Nebuchadnezzar recognised that amid the exiles were some very gifted young men. He chose four of them who were strong, healthy, and good-looking, and trained them up for service in the royal palace. They were Daniel and his three friends, who we know best by their Babylonian names: Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. The four exiles clearly fitted well into their new life. They had an unusual aptitude for understanding every aspect of literature and wisdom. We also learn tha

Psalm 68:28 Summon your might, O God. Display your power, O God, as you have in the past. There’s a Russian proverb which says: “Dwell in the past and you’ll lose an eye. Forget the past and you’ll lose both eyes.” This is particularly important for those who follow God because we learn so much about him from history. As we consider how he has led his people through thousands of years, we see his faithfulness, love, kindness and generosity. The psalmist looked back to the time of Moses when God gave the law on Sinai. This was a foundational time for the people of Israel, giving shape to every aspect of their life together and with God. The psalmist then recalled the time of Deborah, when the earth shook as God fought for his people. All of this led up to the time of David, when the Ark of the Covenant was brought up to Jerusalem with great rejoicing. Every step of the journey had shown them more about the nature of their God. We have the blessing of being able to read the Bible and see how God led his pe

Psalm 66:1-2 Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! Sing about the glory of his name! Tell the world how glorious he is. When we think about worship, we naturally focus on the church community we meet with regularly, and this is entirely understandable and deeply precious. We thank God for our brothers and sisters and the relationship we share with them. We need to be careful, however, because worship belongs to the whole world, not just to the group with whom we worship. The psalmist’s vision was for everyone to worship God, so when we worship, we should keep everyone else in mind. Because everyone has been made by God, everyone needs a relationship with him, and their life will only be complete when they live in partnership with him. At the heart of our worship, there needs to be a longing that everyone around us will join in. We see a similar attitude in the New Testament. Writing to the Philippians, Paul spoke about how Jesus took upon himself the nature of servant. He humbled himself and became

Psalm 65:9 You take care of the earth and water it, making it rich and fertile. The river of God has plenty of water; it provides a bountiful harvest of grain, for you have ordered it so. These days, less than two per cent of the population works in agriculture so, for most of us, harvesting feels a world away from our everyday lives. In pre-industrial society, most people were involved in agriculture, and harvest was a massive communal activity. It was desperately hard work, and the lives of agricultural workers were intimately bound up with the rhythms of the seasons. It’s no wonder that many of the psalms make reference to harvesting. Our circumstances are very different, but we are still dependent on the work of our farmers, and I am delighted that most churches hold harvest celebrations every year. They remind us that our food, however it comes to us, is a gift from God. This is a good moment to focus attention on our farmers. It is well known that the rate of suicide is high among those who work th

Psalm 63:1 O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water. This psalm was almost certainly penned by King David after he had fled from his son Absalom, who had attempted to take over his father’s throne. It was an agonising situation. Absalom was David’s third son and great favourite. He was charming and handsome and clearly loved the life of pomp and ceremony. We learn that he drove in a magnificent chariot with 50 men running in front of him. After a while, the power went to his head, and he decided to rebel against his father. To be betrayed by anyone is an appalling experience, but to be betrayed by your own much-loved son must have been almost too awful to bear. In despair, David fled to the desert, and had time to reflect on what mattered most in his life. He was absolutely clear that his relationship with the living God was everything to him. “Your unfailing love is better than life,” he

Psalm 62:10 If your wealth increases, don’t make it the centre of your life. The issue of wealth often comes up in the Bible. Psalm 112 gives an attractive picture of the person who follows the Lord. Such a person takes delight in the Lord’s commands and even in the darkness, the light shines for them. They are also described as wealthy and, at the same time, generous and compassionate. Everything that we have is a gift from God, so whatever we have should be a cause for rejoicing, whether it is great or little. The challenge comes when wealth increases, because possessions are always greedy for our attention. They want to become the main focus of our life, and that’s when the rot sets in. Only God deserves that place, and that’s exactly what our verse today is warning us about. We should ensure that wealth never takes centre stage in our lives. The book of Proverbs is wonderfully helpful on the subject of wealth. It often warns against the dangers of idleness and applauds hard work. It recognises that it

Psalm 62:1-2 I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him. He alone is my rock and my salvation, my fortress where I will never be shaken. What’s the biggest challenge you’ve faced in life? It may have been an illness, the death of someone who was close to you, the betrayal of a friend or the breakup of a relationship. In such moments, we desperately need to know where to turn. We need a rock. King David seemed to face such challenges frequently, and he found God to be his rock and his fortress. He knew that, even though life continued to hurl difficulties at him, he was unshakable. In this particular psalm, he spoke about those who were aiming to bring him down through their lies. They trusted in extortion and bragged about their stolen goods. They were always seeking to trip him up, but he discovered that they, and their threats, counted for nothing in the face of God’s unshakable strength. The writer to the Hebrews reflected that everything in this life can be shaken. Things may seem secur

John 12:3 Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance. Mary’s anointing of Jesus was a beautiful act of devotion, but it is hard not to have at least some sympathy for Judas, who pointed out that the precious perfume would have cost the equivalent of one year’s wages. That’s a huge amount of money. We know that Judas was a thief, but anyone might question the wisdom of spending such a vast amount of money in that way. However, incredible generosity is the natural language of love. Mary was devoted to Jesus and no gift could have been too lavish or generous for her Lord. I love that the fragrance of the perfume filled the house. I’m sure it did, and probably for many days afterwards. We are still blessed by her lavish generosity 2,000 years later because it gives us beautiful insight into the nature of love. There are thousands of people in our country who care for

John 11:33-36 When Jesus saw [Mary] weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled. “Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him: “Lord, come and see.” Then Jesus wept. The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” Very soon after this, Lazarus was brought back to life, but we shouldn’t rush past this moment of intense emotion. Jesus was up against the great enemy of death, and he was clearly overwhelmed by the sense of tragedy. He had the power to overcome death but, in this moment, he fully entered into the sheer sadness of the situation. His dear friends Mary and Martha were clearly grief stricken, and as he went to see the body of Lazarus, nothing could hold him back from weeping. Those who looked on immediately saw this as a clear sign of his love for Lazarus. Even though Jesus was the resurrection and the life, he entered fully into the emotional turmoil of the circumstances. The writer to the Heb

John 11:25-26 Jesus told [Martha], “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die.” Jesus had known for some days that Martha’s brother Lazarus was seriously ill, but he had not gone to them straight away. When he finally arrived in Bethany, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha clearly regretted Jesus had taken so long. She immediately blurted out: “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died” (John 11:21). Nevertheless, Martha was confident of Jesus, and shortly afterwards, this was fully justified – Jesus raised Lazarus from death. We can’t be sure why Jesus decided to delay his visit to see his friends in Bethany but, arriving four days after his death, no one could possibly question whether he was indeed dead. So, when he was resurrected, there was no doubt that it was completely miraculous. Jesus had already spoken of the way in which his ministry brought life to pe

John 10:19-21 The people were again divided in their opinions about him. Some said, “He’s demon possessed and out of his mind. Why listen to a man like that?” Others said: “This doesn’t sound like a man possessed by a demon! Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?” I am so grateful for the complete honesty of the Gospel writers. They were clearly deeply committed followers of Jesus, and it must have been tempting to have chosen to ignore the opposition that he faced, but they didn’t! They were astonishingly honest about how Jesus brought division between people throughout his ministry, and it wasn’t simply a case of people liking or not liking his teaching – some people believed that he was mad and demon possessed. Jesus has always divided opinion and still does. Richard Dawkins, the well-known atheist, has recently conceded that Jesus did exist, although he once said: “Somebody as intelligent as Jesus would have been an atheist.” John Lennon stated: “I believe in God, but not as one thing, not as an ol

John 10:14-15 “I am the good shepherd; I know my own sheep, and they know me, just as my Father knows me and I know the Father. So I sacrifice my life for the sheep.” Years ago, I read a book about Eleanor Philby, who was married to the spy Kim Philby. I was stunned to discover that Eleanor never had any idea her husband was a spy. That seemed incredible to me at the time, but the truth is that our knowledge of even our nearest and dearest is always very limited. We know much about them, but there are always aspects of their lives of which we know nothing. That is not the case when it comes to the Lord Jesus Christ. He knows us completely. There are no dark corners of our lives that he does not know. This could sound thoroughly intimidating were it not for his love for us. His willingness to die for us shows the full extent of his love, so we can feel not only safe but affirmed and encouraged by his knowledge of us. In the Old Testament, God is often compared to a shepherd, most famously in Psalm 23. “Th

John 9:24-25 For the second time [the Pharisees] called in the man who had been blind and told him, “God should get the glory for this, because we know this man Jesus is a sinner.” “I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!” The Pharisees were fuming. Jesus had just healed a blind man, and they were determined to prove that he hadn’t. First of all, they interviewed the man, and he confirmed that Jesus had given him back his sight. They were still unconvinced, so they interviewed the man’s parents. They duly confirmed that he had been born blind, but had no idea how he had received his sight. John adds that the parents were fearful of the Jewish leaders, who had announced that anyone who said Jesus was the Messiah would be expelled from the synagogue. The parents tried to brush off the Pharisees by encouraging them to have a word with their son. “He is old enough. Ask him,” they said (John 9:23). The Pharisees were clearly starting to realise

John 8:12 Jesus spoke to the people once more and said, “I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life.” Jesus spoke these words during the Festival of Tabernacles, which was a seven-day holiday at the end of the harvest. It was one of three pilgrimage festivals, so Jerusalem would have been heaving with people. On the first evening, there was a ceremony called The Illumination of the Temple. Four great candelabra were placed in the centre of the Court of the Women and, when darkness came, they were lit. It is said that the light from them was so great that every courtyard in the city was illuminated by their brilliance! This was a powerful backdrop to Jesus’ claim that he himself was the light of the world. In the Old Testament, God is repeatedly identified as light, so there is no doubt that in this bold statement, Jesus was claiming to be the Son of God. The great candelabra were impressive, but however amazing a

John 8:7 [Jesus said:] “Let the one who has never sinned throw the first stone!” By this time, Jesus had become a deeply controversial person in Jerusalem. The teachers of the religious law and the Pharisees were always looking for ways to trip him up. On this particular day, they brought a woman to him who had been caught in the act of adultery. They reminded Jesus that, according to the Law of Moses, anyone who committed adultery should be stoned to death. This was a clever trap – if Jesus suggested he disagreed with the Mosaic Law, they would have all the proof they needed that he was a heretic, and if he took a hard line and encouraged the stoning of this woman, his reputation for kindness and compassion would be shattered. He would also have run into difficulties with the Romans who were proud of their exclusive right to execute people. Jesus’ response was incredibly wise. He said nothing at first but stooped down and wrote in the dust with his finger. We have no idea what he wrote, but his respons

John 6:66-69 At this point many of his disciples turned away and deserted him. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve and asked, “Are you also going to leave?” Simon Peter replied: “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. We believe, and we know you are the Holy One of God.” Until now, Jesus seemed to have been attracting more and more followers. In chapter four, we hear that he was attracting more disciples than John the Baptist and people were believing in him even in the hostile territory of Samaria. In the Galilean region in the north, he had miraculously fed thousands of people, but the next day, the mood was very different. He spoke seriously to his followers about the nature of the bread that he was offering them, calling it his flesh. They concluded: “This is very hard to understand. How can anyone accept it?” (John 6:60). As a result, many of his followers turned away and deserted him. Jesus’ question to his remaining disciples is heart-rending. “Are you also going to leav

John 6:33-35 The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said: “give us that bread every day.” Jesus replied: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” When I was a boy, bread was only offered to us in two forms. It was either brown or white! These days, it is offered in a huge variety of ways – brioche, ciabatta, focaccia, multigrain, naan, pitta, rye, sourdough and wholewheat to name but a few – but however interesting it may be, it never ultimately satisfies us. We will always need more! When Jesus identified himself as the bread of life, he was claiming that we would never need to look for anyone else to satisfy us. He could meet all our needs. This is the first time in John’s Gospel that we hear Jesus using the expression “I am”. These words are a clear echo of how God spoke of himself in Exodus 3:14: “I am who I am.” Jesus was acknowledging who he was as the So

John 6:8-9 Then Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, spoke up: “There’s a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?” I’m sure we’re all familiar with Jesus’ miraculous feeding of the 5,000. It must have had a profound effect on everyone who witnessed it, but I’m particularly interested in what happened before the miracle took place. Jesus asked Philip where it would be possible to buy food for the people, and then John added that Jesus knew exactly what he was going to do and was merely testing Philip. Philip gave the not unreasonable answer that even if they worked for months, they wouldn’t have sufficient money to pay for enough food. Andrew then emphasised the hopelessness of the situation by pointing out the young boy with his packed lunch. With despair he observed: “what good is that with this huge crowd?” This all feels very familiar. When we look at the problems of our world, or even our local community, it is very easy to get depressed. There is s

John 5:2-6 Inside [Jerusalem], near the Sheep Gate, was the pool of Bethesda, with five covered porches. Crowds of sick people—blind, lame, or paralyzed—lay on the porches. One of the men lying there had been sick for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him and knew he had been ill for a long time, he asked him: “Would you like to get well?” I loved spending time in Jerusalem, but it is often impossible to know exactly where the events we read about in the Gospels took place. However, we know where the pool of Bethesda is, and you can still see a part of it adjacent to St Anne’s Church near St Stephen’s Gate. The pool had a long reputation for being a place of healing, but Jesus met a man who had been ill for an extremely long time. Jesus asked the man if he would like to get well. On first hearing, this might sound a rather callous question. Surely the answer was obvious. Who wouldn’t want to be healed if they had been sick for 38 years? It is, however, a profoundly caring and important question. No d

John 4:13-14 Jesus replied, “Anyone who drinks this water will soon become thirsty again. But those who drink the water I give will never be thirsty again. It becomes a fresh, bubbling spring within them, giving them eternal life.” Here, Jesus was talking to a Samaritan woman. Everything about their meeting was surprising. First of all, it would have astonished everyone that he had travelled through Samaria. The rivalry between the Samaritans and the Jews was intense for deep historical reasons. After the breakup of the kingdom, following the death of Solomon, the northern territory was annexed by the Assyrians, who resettled the area with foreigners. As far as the Judaeans in the south were concerned, Samaria had lost its racial and religious purity. The divide was made even deeper when the Samaritans built their own temple at Mount Gerizim around 400 BC. Samaritans and Jews hated one another, so Jews would almost always have made a careful detour around Samaria, but not Jesus. The other astonishing f