Be Still And Know

Proverbs 28:6 This is such a typical proverb. It’s punchy, brief and contains a massive amount of wisdom. Honesty is always the best policy. Thomas Jefferson, the third president of the United States of America, said: “Honesty is the first chapter of the book of wisdom.” It’s not surprising that the book of Proverbs has much to say about honesty. It speaks often of the importance of being reliable, telling the truth and never being deceitful. The writer saw these as crucial qualities of a godly person and was convinced that this was the most wonderful life to live. He wrote: “The life of the godly is full of light and joy” (Proverbs 13:9). Because God loves honesty, he detests dishonesty. The prophets often delivered messages of God’s hatred of those who twisted the truth, especially when they did so to exploit the poor and vulnerable. The prophet Amos described those who couldn’t wait for the Sabbath to come to an end so that they could get back to their daily work of cheating the helpless. He said: “You mea

Proverbs 28:5 The Bible has a great deal to say about justice. The reason for that is clear. God is a God of justice, and so he wants us, his followers, to share his passion. The writer of Proverbs is characteristically blunt on the subject. Evil people, he claims, just don’t get it. They don’t mind bending or breaking the rules because they are only concerned about their own selfish interests. They aren’t bothered if there is no justice in the world just so long as they get what they want. It’s a completely different story for those who follow the Lord. They understand that justice is so important that they devote their lives to acting justly and encouraging others to do the same. This has always given godly people a lot of work to do. I have no doubt that our society looks very different from that of the writer of Proverbs. However, it has always been the case that the weak and marginalised are those who are most likely to be denied justice. The elderly, the disabled, the uneducated, the poor, immigrants an

Matthew 2:10-11 We know very little about the wise men, but their visit was of such significance that it has been endlessly repeated and often embellished. We have often been told that there were three of them, that they were kings and that they rode on camels and endless Christmas cards confirm the impression. But, of course, all of that is artistic licence. However, what we do know is that, however many of them there were, they presented three very significant gifts as they worshipped the baby. The wise men brought gold, the king of metals, to recognise the kingship of Jesus. Only the best would do. When we worship the Lord, we should never think that we are coming to someone who is equal to us. He is the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. When we worship, we need to go out of our way to acknowledge his greatness and to do so with the conviction that only the best will do. A casual approach might be ideal if we were meeting with another human being, but not when we are bringing our worship to Jesus our Lord.

Matthew 2:7-8 Jesus was born into a highly charged political situation. As soon as it became clear the King of the Jews had been born, King Herod was deeply alarmed. He was a powerful king and had, in many ways, a very successful reign. He had been on the throne for nearly forty years and brought a sustained period of peace to the land. He had also been responsible for many building programmes. His building of the second temple was particularly impressive and parts of it can still be seen today. But towards the end of his reign, Herod became increasingly intolerant of any rivals. Incredibly he not only killed his wife and mother-in-law but also three of his sons. It was said that it was safer to be Herod’s pig than his son. When Herod encouraged the wise men to make a careful search for the baby, it’s not hard to work out what lay behind his words. He wanted to eliminate the baby as quickly as possible to ensure that Jesus didn’t acquire a following and unsettle the kingdom. Herod was no doubt aware that if h

Matthew 2:1-2 The visit of wise men to baby Jesus is remarkable in many ways and we would love to know far more details. I often try to imagine what it would be like if this were to happen today. I am quite sure that news reporters from all over the world would arrive on the scene, eager to interview the important visitors and find out where they had come from and who exactly they were. The film crews would have a wonderful time filming these exotic visitors. But we have none of those advantages. We have only Matthew’s few words of introduction. The visitors “were wise men from eastern lands” and it is presumed that they were astrologers because of their interest in the star which they had been following. Astrology had existed for thousands of years before these wise men. It seems to have first taken root in Mesopotamia, which we now know as Iraq, before heading east to India. Whoever these visitors were they certainly weren’t Jews, and that’s really the point. Jesus came as the King of the Jews, but his comi

Psalm 123:3-4 To be treated with contempt is a horrible experience. To be written off as worthless is agonising and the Bible tells us about many people who knew just how painful it was to suffer in this way. Nehemiah certainly had the experience when he worked to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Many scholars think that this might be the background to this particular psalm. Nehemiah was convinced that God himself had commissioned him to undertake the rebuilding of the city. But that cut no ice with Sanballat and Tobiah, who did everything they could think of to ridicule his efforts. They were eager for Nehemiah to fail and tried endless ways to undermine his efforts. In the New Testament we see the way in which Jesus was treated with ridicule and contempt by the Pharisees and teachers of the law, leading to his death on the cross. If you have ever been treated with contempt you will know what a depressing and discouraging experience it is. Very easily it can dominate all of our thinking and make life a comple

Psalm 122:1 This verse has a very special place in British history. It has been used upon the entrance of the monarch at every coronation since that of King Charles 1. Since 1902, Hubert Parry’s magnificent choral setting of the psalm has been sung. It captures beautifully the joy and celebration of this very special occasion. The roots of this psalm go back thousands of years to the time when pilgrims would use these words as they climbed up the hill to Jerusalem and anticipated the incredible joy of worshipping God in the temple. There is no building in Christianity which is the equivalent of the temple in Jerusalem. With the coming of Christ, a new covenant was established, in which God sought to build a new temple not with stones or bricks but in the lives of those who worshipped him. Paul wrote to the church in Corinth: “Don’t you realise that all of you together are the temple of God and the Spirit of God lives in you?” (1 Corinthians 3:16). Our circumstances are very different from those of the psalmis

Psalm 121:1-2 This is one of the best-known and best-loved of all the psalms. The answer to the psalmist’s question is a resounding: ”No!” The mountains might look strong and confident, however our help certainly doesn’t come from them, but from the Lord. It’s impossible to know what exactly was in the mind of the psalmist when he referred to the mountains. He might simply have been reflecting on their impressive grandeur and strength. But it is quite likely that he was thinking of the fact that people often went to high places like mountains to worship false gods such as Baal. The psalmist wanted to make it absolutely clear that only God himself is able to meet our needs. Our God is always on the job. He never slumbers or sleeps. He is continually watching over us. Our family and friends may well be wonderfully supportive and caring. They would do anything for us, but sooner or later they get tired and need to get some sleep. Their support is great but it’s well short of 100 per cent. But God is different. H

Psalm 120:1-2 I love the psalms because they span the full range of human experience. Some are full of praise and worship, but others burst out with anger and disappointment. However you are feeling, there are psalms that will be just right for you, because God meets us where we are. We don’t need to pretend to be something that we are not. We can come to him with our struggles, fears, passions and hopes and know that he will understand us completely. I’ve had the privilege of visiting a number of Benedictine monasteries in this country and in France.  I have been thrilled to live as part of their worshipping communities for a few days of retreat. Every day there are eight times of worship, and you need to know that I didn’t attend them all! Each week all of the 150 psalms are read or sung and that seems to me a wonderful rhythm of life. What has often struck me is the ruthless honesty of the psalmists. They hid nothing when they came into God’s presence. They told him exactly how they were feeling and used l

Luke 2:37-38 In this part of Luke’s Gospel, our eyes are focused on Jesus and his young parents. A new day had dawned, full of hope for the future. But it is important that it was two old people, Simeon and Anna, who recognised the significance of his birth. They had lived so close to God that they were ready for this moment. Age can change people in very different ways. Anna had only been married for seven years before her husband died. She was now an old woman and had been a widow for many decades. She could have become cynical with the passing of time, but her life was clearly focused on God. She spent her days in the Temple worshipping God, and that meant that she was spiritually alert and quick to see what he was doing. In this beautiful moment she came alongside Simeon as he spoke with Mary and Joseph and joined in the celebration. There were, at the time of Jesus’ birth, godly people known as ‘The quiet in the land’ who devoted their lives to prayer, waiting patiently for God to come. Simeon and Anna w

Luke 2:28-31 Simeon took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, “Sovereign Lord, now let your servant die in peace, as you have promised. I have seen your salvation, which you have prepared for all people.” Simeon was an old man who had spent years waiting for this moment. When he saw the baby Jesus, he recognised that this was the one who had been the focus of his prayers for all that time. The Messiah had finally come. Simeon had clearly lived a good life; Luke described him as being “righteous and devout” which tells us that he had been committed to God and lived in the right way towards the people around him. Now, as his life ebbed away, he found fulfilment in holding Jesus in his arms and praising God. Simeon’s prayer is known by its Latin name as the Nunc Dimittis. It is used by many churches as part of their evening worship and also at funeral services. This makes sense, because here was a man who had come to the end of his days at peace because of the Lord. In Jesus, he knew he was seeing

Luke 2:21 'Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.' Three ceremonies took place after the birth of Jesus, just as they did for every Jewish baby boy. Firstly, he was circumcised. This practice dates right back to the time of Abraham and was a sign of the covenant between God and his people. It was absolutely essential for every Jewish boy to be circumcised. A failure to do so was believed to lead to the extinction of the soul and the denial of a share in the life to come. It was such an important ceremony that it could take place on any day of the week, including the Sabbath. Secondly, the Jews believed that every firstborn male, whether human or cattle, was sacred to God. They belonged to him and so needed to be bought back at a price. This cost five shekels and could not be paid sooner than 31 days after the birth of the child. The third ceremony was the purification of the mother. In Jewish law, a woman who had

Luke 2:21 'Eight days later, when the baby was circumcised, he was named Jesus, the name given him by the angel even before he was conceived.' My wife Sue and I have three children and I well recall the long conversations about names which took place before they were born. We talked about names that had been important in the family, biblical names and others that we simply liked. The naming of Jesus was a very different matter. This was the name that Gabriel gave to Mary when she had first been informed of her miraculous pregnancy. Jesus was actually a very popular boy’s name at the time and was a shortened form of Joshua which means “the Lord saves”. Because most people only had one name, they were often also known by the place from which they came or the name of their father. So Jesus was variously known as Jesus of Nazareth or Jesus, the son of Joseph. There may have been many children in Nazareth with the name Jesus, but only one who had come to bring salvation. In Jesus the name was completely fulfil

Luke 2:18-19 'All who heard the shepherds’ story were astonished, but Mary kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often.' The birth of Jesus was greeted by people in very different ways. The shepherds were thrilled that they had been given front row seats for this wonderful occasion. It was the last thing that they would ever have believed would happen to them. Having seen the baby, just as the angel had promised, they rushed back to their village with the news. The people were astonished. But Mary’s reaction was very different. She had had nine months to prepare for this remarkable moment but, even so, she had a lot of adjusting to do. Not only was her way of life completely changed (just as it is for any parent after the birth of their child) but she also needed to reflect on the awesome implications of bringing up the Saviour of the world. It’s no wonder that, in Luke’s thoughtful words, “she kept all these things in her heart and thought about them often”. I’m sure she did! People s

Luke 2:10-11 “Don’t be afraid!” he said. “I bring you good news that will bring great joy to all people. The Saviour—yes, the Messiah, the Lord—has been born today in Bethlehem, the city of David!” The news of the birth of Jesus would have been a shock to the shepherds for many reasons. We know these accounts of Jesus’ birth so well that there isn’t any surprise for us, but we need to remember that, although the prophet Isaiah had spoken clearly about the coming of a Messiah, that was more than 700 years ago for the shepherds. And over the past 400 years there hadn’t been a prophet in the land. There was nothing that led them to believe that this would be the moment of the Messiah’s birth. Add to that the fact that they were shepherds. They were not seen as responsible members of the community and were generally excluded from religious life. They were outsiders and would hardly have expected to be the first people to receive news of Jesus’ birth. You needn’t be surprised that the sudden arrival of an angel

Luke 2:6-7 'And while they were there in Bethlehem, the time came for her baby to be born. She gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped him snugly in strips of cloth and laid him in a manger, because there was no lodging available for them.' The birth of Jesus was such an incredibly important moment in the history of the world that the circumstances of it are deeply shocking. This was no way to welcome the Son of God. But all of this serves to remind us of the love of God in sending his son to be part of our broken and disordered world. Many people have questioned why Joseph took Mary on the journey to Bethlehem. He himself was obliged to go there because his family line came from that town, but it is unlikely that it was necessary for him to take Mary along with him. So why did he take his heavily pregnant wife along with him on the arduous 80-mile journey? It is quite likely that he did so because Joseph knew that the people of Nazareth might cause problems for Mary due to the unusual circumstances o

Luke 2:4 'Because Joseph was a descendant of King David, he had to go to Bethlehem in Judea, David’s ancient home.' Jesus was born in the little town of Bethlehem. Even today, it’s not a particularly large town. With a population of around 28,000 people, it is the size of a small market town, but Bethlehem was full of significance. It was here that David was anointed by Samuel after the prophet received instruction from God to visit the town and find a king to replace Saul. God led him to the family of Jesse, where the proud father happily presented his sons. One by one they met with Samuel and, impressive as they were, God didn’t consider them suitable. The prophet had to learn that: “people judge by outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart” (1 Samuel 16:7). David was the youngest of these sons and was such an unlikely choice that they hadn’t even bothered to invite him in from the fields where he was watching over the sheep and goats. But as soon as he arrived, he was the one whom the Lord ide

Luke 2:1-3 'At that time the Roman emperor, Augustus, decreed that a census should be taken throughout the Roman Empire. (This was the first census taken when Quirinius was governor of Syria.) All returned to their own ancestral towns to register for this census.' A friend of mine once commented that he wasn’t bothered whether the story of Jesus’ birth was historically accurate or not. He was happy to accept it as simply a beautiful story. Dr Luke, who wrote this Gospel, would have profoundly disagreed. For Luke, the historical context of Jesus’ birth was of crucial importance and, as a result, he supplies us with more information than any of the other Gospel writers. It was typical of the Romans to conduct censuses. They liked to have a clear account of what was going on throughout their vast empire. And so Joseph and Mary made the long and arduous journey from Nazareth, in the north of the country, to Joseph’s ancestral home of in Bethlehem, not far from Jerusalem, in the south. The meticulous historica

Luke 1:78-79 “Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” There is something very exciting about the start of a new day. I love those times when I am up early in the morning, long before most people have got up. The streets are empty, and you feel that you have the place to yourself. But you know that the day is just about to begin and, within a short time, children will be going to school and the streets will be filled with vehicles. A new day is underway. In this wonderful song of praise, Zechariah recognises that, with the coming of the Messiah, a new day is just about to begin. And his son John will be preparing the way for his coming. Jesus’ ministry brought light to the world. For hundreds of years, the Jews had been waiting for this moment. There had not only been no prophet in the land, but they had passed through some times of terrible persecuti

Luke 11:76-77 “And you, my little son, will be called the prophet of the Most High, because you will prepare the way for the Lord. You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins.” In his song of praise, Zechariah makes an incredible claim. There had been no prophet in the land for 400 years, but he claimed that his young son would fulfil that role. But, more than that, he declared that John would be preparing the way for the long-promised Messiah who would bring salvation to the world. What an amazing moment this was for Zechariah, the elderly priest, who had long believed that he would never be a father! God had very different plans for him. The importance of John the Baptist was not in himself, but in the one to whom he pointed. His role was to prepare the ground for the coming of the Saviour of the world. The context may be different, but that is precisely our role too. God doesn’t call us to draw attention to ourselves, but to prepare the way for others to meet Jesus.