Be Still And Know

READ: James 1:5 NLT  'If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.' Life constantly throws challenges at us. Should we move house? Should I move to a different job because I’ve seen one that pays more? How can I resolve the dispute that I’ve got with my next-door neighbour? Should I tell my colleague that he’s annoying me? How should I go about telling my daughter that I think she’s seeing the wrong people? And a thousand other questions!  The Bible focuses a lot of attention on the subject of wisdom in both the Old and the New Testaments. Wisdom is very different from knowledge. You can have all the knowledge in the world but it will do you no good at all if you are not wise. Here James points to God as the source of wisdom and encourages his readers to understand that God loves sharing his wisdom with us.In the Old Testament we learn a lot about wisdom in the book of Proverbs. There we find down to earth guidance for life in

READ: James 1:2-3 NLT 'Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.' This sounds ridiculous. Having problems, trials and difficulties doesn’t sound, on the face of it, like the best way to create joy. So what is James talking about? What he’s doing is taking his readers to the heart of the Christian faith which turns everything upside down.  James is not saying that when we face difficulties it’s a bundle of fun. He is speaking to people who knew what it was to suffer for their faith, and he wants them to know that, when we place our difficulties in God’s hands, he produces something incredibly exciting. Something which lasts. Something which takes us closer to the heart of God, and that always produces joy. Like many of you I’ve had a bad back for many years. At times I’ve had to live with pain night and day and that’s not great. It’s certainly not fun. But I thank God for the way in which he has

READ: Psalm 34:10 NLT 'Even strong young lions sometimes go hungry, but those who trust in the LORD will lack no good thing.' Have you ever thought that in following God you will miss out on lots of good things? I certainly did. When I heard the call to ministry I was 19 and I struggled with the idea of answering the call, because it seemed to me that I would be sure to miss out on so much. I was clearly going to miss out on the money which my chosen profession would have brought me. And then this particular verse came to my attention. It was God’s promise to me that I wouldn’t miss out. And I haven’t. And you won’t. God is better able to provide for us than anyone and when we are obedient to him then he will generously provide us with everything we need.This same principle applies to all aspects of following God. When you give to God you will never miss out. When you give him your time, your talents, your possessions or your future you will never lose out. As Paul wrote in Romans, “And who could ever give hi

READ: Psalm 34:8 NLT 'Taste and see that the LORD is good. Oh, the joys of those who take refuge in him!' After leaving University I spent two years living in Kerala, South India. It’s a beautiful state and the vegetation is so lush and dense that, from the air, it looks like a huge jungle. One of the most amazing discoveries was the vast range of new fruits. I had never heard of custard apple or jack fruit and could hardly believe it when I was told that they had 63 different varieties of banana! During those two years my taste-buds worked overtime. I could have played it safe and stayed with the fruits and other foods that I was used to, but I am so glad that I explored an amazing variety of entirely new tastes. Day by day God is constantly inviting us to step into new experiences in order to taste different aspects of his love and grace. Throughout the world and history, people have worshipped God in an amazing variety of ways. It is often good for us to step out of our familiar ways of worshipping to see

READ: Psalm 33:2,3 NLT 'Praise the LORD with melodies on the lyre; make music for him on the ten-stringed harp. Sing a new song of praise to him; play skilfully on the harp, and sing with joy.' The psalmist often speaks about singing new songs to the Lord. That has always made me wonder what is wrong with the old songs? The psalmist doesn’t give us an answer but in every generation as God has touched people’s lives they have created new songs. Many of the old songs are fantastic and a real blessing but when the Spirit is at work there is no way of stopping the production of new ones! Singing is a wonderful expression of our life together as the people of God. In 1979 I visited Romania for the first time. The Iron Curtain was very firmly in place and Ceausescu’s terrible dictatorship had ten more cruel years to run. We spoke with many Christians about the constant pressure that they lived under and it would be easy to understand if we came away with memories of their moans and dissatisfactions. But no, the mos

READ: Psalm 31:9-10 NLT 'Have mercy on me, LORD, for I am in distress. Tears blur my eyes. My body and soul are withering away. I am dying from grief; my years are shortened by sadness. Sin has drained my strength; I am wasting away from within.' David is clearly at the end of his tether. Physically he is in a bad way and he feels that everyone is out to get him. Even his friends have rejected him and in verse 11 he reports that when they see him in the street they run away from him. Just imagine how awful that must be. In addition to all that, he knows that he has let the side down by his own sin. He is in a state of complete grief. Everything has gone wrong. I wonder if you have ever felt as desperate as that? If you have, then the last thing in the world you want is for people to tell you,” I’m sure it will all turn out all right in the end,” ... or, “Just hang in there and you can be sure that things will improve.” We would, I think, both feel inclined to throw the nearest available large Bible at them! 

READ: Psalm 29:3 NLT 'The voice of the Lord echoes above the sea. The God of glory thunders. The Lord thunders over the mighty sea.' The Bible clearly reveals that God loves to speak to us, and that he does this in an endless variety of ways. Much of the time we expect communication to be in the form of words, whether written or spoken, but God isn’t limited by words or anything else. This psalm reminds us that God’s commanding voice can be clearly heard in creation if only we have ears to hear it. I love those moments when the only way you can respond to creation is by gasping. I remember travelling through Nepal and being overwhelmed by the grandeur of the Himalayas. I remember many visits to the coast where the crashing waves are awesome in their power. I recall beautiful gardens where the profusion of colour and the intricate beauty of the flowers has been stunning. I remember many visits to zoos where the sheer variety of the animals, birds and fish has been astounding. I think of those moments gazing in

READ: Psalm 27:14 NLT 'Wait for the Lord. Be strong. Let your heart be strong. Yes, wait for the Lord.' Our society has been especially designed to exclude waiting. The advertising industry seeks to persuade us that everything can be obtained instantly: instant credit, instant satisfaction, instant rewards. One of the first credit cards had as its slogan, “Taking the waiting out of wanting” and that’s not a bad summary of how our society works. The psalmist had an altogether different approach. For him, waiting was something good and he encourages his fellow worshippers to wait for the Lord. The truth, of course, is that the most valuable things in life require waiting – and often a great deal of it. There is no way in which you can instantly acquire maturity, a godly character or a strong and trusting relationship. They require years of patient, thoughtful, prayerful development. At times it looks as if God takes a long time to get round to answering our prayers. He doesn’t conform to the requirements of our

READ: Psalm 27:1 NLT 'The Lord is my light and my salvation — so why should I be afraid? The Lord is my fortress, protecting me from danger, so why should I tremble?' If you’ve ever looked through a list of phobias you will have been amazed by the variety. I’ve only recently come across Nomophobia which is the fear of not having mobile access; Ephebiphobia, which is the fear of teenagers; and Syngenesophobia which is the fear of relatives. We might laugh for a moment, but only for a moment, because all fears are serious. If you are afraid then your life is distorted and restricted by the fear. David had every reason to be fearful. His life as a shepherd would have introduced him to a wide range of potential fears, and his relationship with Saul must have been reasonably scary even on the calmest days. All of those experiences would have done little to prepare him for the extraordinary threats and challenges of life as a King. Skilful and successful as he was as a military commander there must have been many d

READ: Psalm 25:4-5 NLT 'Show me Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. Lead me in Your truth and teach me. For You are the God Who saves me. I wait for You all day long.' Everyone wants guidance. We all want to know how to have the most peaceful, fulfilling and useful life. We want to know who to marry, which career to follow, how to spend our money, how to resolve conflict and a thousand other things. The bible steadfastly refuses to be a manual on guidance. It does something far more wonderful. It introduces us to a Guide. God wants to be that Guide and the better we get to know him the more clearly we discover the way in which he wants us to go. The person who looks for guidance is normally saying “I want to stay in charge and run my life, but I’d like a little bit of information to help me on my way.” God doesn’t work on that basis. It is when we hand over the controls to him and offer to him our hopes and our future that he is able to guide us in the way that he longs to. I have often struggled with gui

READ: Psalm 24:1 NLT 'The earth is the Lord’s, and all that is in it, the world, and all who live in it.' Greta Thunberg, the Swedish teenage climate activist, has been amazingly effective in helping the world to wake up to the reality of our abuse of this planet. She said to a UN Climate Summit,” Sometimes we just simply have to find a way. The moment we decide to fulfil something, we can do anything. And I’m sure the moment we start behaving as if we were in an emergency, we can avoid climate and ecological catastrophe. Humans are very adaptable: we can still fix this. But the opportunity to do so will not last for long. We must start today. We have no more excuses.” I think the psalmist would have shouted, “Hallelujah” to Greta’s words. His starting point was that the world is the Lord’s, and so we have the responsibility to care for the world that God has given us. We are answerable for this majestic planet and will have to give an account to God for the way in which we have looked after it. The truth is

READ: Psalm 23:4 NLT 'Even if I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will not be afraid of anything, because You are with me.' Life and death live alongside one another. It has been said that we all live with a terminal disease – it’s called life! But that doesn’t mean that we necessarily find the idea of death easy. When I was a little boy I was terrified at the thought of death. I lived in a loving, happy and secure home and I was appalled by the thought that it could ever come to an end. David is completely straightforward about the challenges of life and death and was clear that, even in the darkest moments, God was there beside him. There was never any need for him to be afraid, even when he stared death in the face as he did on many occasions. When I was twelve years old I decided to follow Jesus, and one of the most immediate consequences of that decision was that my fear of death evaporated. I still have plenty of questions about death and what comes next. The Bible doesn’t provide us wit

READ: Psalm 23:1 NLT The Lord is my Shepherd. I will have everything I need. When I was a student minister I was given responsibility for a wonderful little Baptist church in rural Oxfordshire. It had eight members and the largest congregation I ever saw was 19. It was a great experience and the church secretary was a shepherd, by occupation. He loved to talk about his sheep and helped me to understand a great deal more about how challenging our woolly friends can be. But above all I came to realise that he really knew his sheep and he loved them as individuals. David was writing out of his own personal experience. Unlike my friend, David couldn’t go home at night. He cared for his sheep 24/7. He exposed himself to the threats of challenging weather, dangerous terrain, fierce wolves and sheep rustlers. He was totally committed to his sheep and he, better than anyone else, knew exactly what they needed. I am quite sure that, as a King, David often reflected on his earlier experiences as a shepherd and he knew

READ: Mark 6:37 NLT Jesus said to his disciples, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough money to buy food for all these people!” “How much bread do you have?” he asked. “Go and find out.” They came back and reported, “We have five loaves of bread and two fish.” Jesus’ disciples were on a very steep learning curve on this particular day. The day began by them seeking to get away from the hordes of people who were eager to listen to Jesus. Jesus himself suggested that it would be good for them to go away to a quiet place and get some rest. That spectacularly failed as the people rushed round the lake to the quiet place even before Jesus and his disciples got there! The first lesson of the day was that with Jesus things don’t necessarily work out in the way that you expect. The disciples accept that their quiet time with Jesus isn’t going to happen and sit back to listen to his teaching. But the moment comes when they’ve had enough and they suggest to Jesus that be

READ: Mark 4:26,27 NLT Jesus said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. 27 Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.” We have the privilege of being foster parents and my day often begins by having breakfast with our foster daughter. She is ten years old and has a sharp and enquiring mind. Very often she will come up with a question like “Why don’t birds fly into one another?” or “How do bees smell?” I rarely have any idea of the answer and particularly at that time in the morning! Our foster daughter will then normally say, “Well google it then!” Googling is great and gives us speedy access to libraries of knowledge. But even so the world is still full of mysteries. In these verses Jesus speaks of the mystery of the Kingdom of God. Day and night, rain and shine, the kingdom of God grows. Just as a farmer has no understanding of how growth happens, so we too cannot fathom how God works. It is simply an ama

READ: Mark 4:21 NLT Then Jesus asked them, “Would anyone light a lamp and then put it under a basket or under a bed? Of course not! A lamp is placed on a stand, where its light will shine.” After leaving University I spent two years working in South India. I lived in a large Victorian mission house with an Indian Christian family. The house had mains electricity but every day the power would go off for a few hours and so we depended on candles. It grew dark around 6pm throughout the year and so there were many hours when we would be reading, eating or chatting to candlelight. What I love about candles is their incredible power to expel the darkness, small as they may be, and India helped me to acquire a much deeper appreciation of them. The idea of lighting a lamp and putting it under a basket or a bed is simply absurd. No one in their right mind would do that. The point that Jesus is making is clear. God has given us light and our responsibility is to pass it on to others and so the idea of keeping it to our

READ: Mark 2:27 NLT Then Jesus said to them, “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath.” The Pharisees were out to get Jesus and were clearly delighted to have spotted his disciples breaking the Sabbath laws. The disciples were entitled to eat but they had broken the law when they picked the ears of corn because that was considered to be reaping. The Pharisees were driven by their commitment to obey every detail of the law and they had no doubt that they had caught Jesus’ disciples out. Jesus doesn’t deny that his disciples may have disobeyed a detail of the law, but informs the Pharisees that they have totally missed the point. The Sabbath was not designed by God to be a miserable day hedged around by oppressive rules and regulations. The Sabbath was God’s loving gift to humankind at the dawn of creation as a day to bring blessing, refreshment and renewal. In 1985 Keep Sunday Special was launched by Dr Michael Schluter to help our society to re

READ: Mark 2:21 NLT ‘Besides, who would patch old clothing with new cloth? For the new patch would shrink and rip away from the old cloth, leaving an even bigger tear than before.’ Let’s be honest. We all make mistakes. We do things we don’t mean to do and say things we regret. When we own up to our mistakes a common response is to decide to try better next time or to turn over a new leaf. But Jesus rejects the idea that this patching up technique really works. Patching can in fact just make things worse. His answer was that there needs to be complete renewal. Pouring wine into cracked old wineskins is a waste of time. What you need is to pour your lovely new wine into brand new wineskins. Jesus said something very similar when he met a Pharisee called Nicodemus. Jesus told him that he needed to be born again. Nicodemus received this with consternation. He couldn’t make any sense out of what Jesus was saying. Jesus patiently explained himself and informed this thoughtful religious man that he needed to allow

READ: Mark 2:15 NLT Later, Levi invited Jesus and his disciples to his home as dinner guests, along with many tax collectors and other disreputable sinners. (There were many people of this kind among Jesus’ followers.) Levi’s first action after becoming a follower of Jesus was to invite him home for a meal so that he could meet his friends. Levi was one of the much hated tax collectors whose job was to rake in money for the hated Roman occupying power. His circle of friends was, on the face of it, as unpleasant a group as Jerusalem could produce. When I was a minister in Suffolk one of the children in our Sunday club went home one day and spoke with her father who didn’t attend church. She asked him to remind her of the job that he did. Very importantly he told her that he was one of Her Majesty’s Inspector of Taxes. “Oh dear,” said the little girl, ”At church this morning we learnt that tax inspectors are very bad people”. So, ever since, I have been at pains to point out that everything is very different th

READ: Mark 4:2 NLT ‘They couldn’t bring him to Jesus because of the crowd, so they dug a hole through the roof above his head. Then they lowered the man on his mat, right down in front of Jesus.’ Can you imagine what it must have been like? The house is filled with people eagerly listening to Jesus’ teaching when they are suddenly aware that the roof is being dismantled. Now don’t think of your own roof. Think of a typical Middle Eastern flat-roofed one storey building with an exterior staircase and a roof constructed out of branches and hard-baked mud. But even so it made a commotion and the owner of the house probably wasn’t too pleased! What impresses me is that these four friends were real friends. They were determined that their paralysed companion should meet Jesus and nothing was going to stop them. Going to the trouble of dismantling a roof shows just how much they cared for their friend and how imaginative they were in working out a way of achieving their goal. I’m sure that many other people would h