Be Still And Know

Isaiah 6:1 Uzziah had become king when he was 16 and reigned for 52 years. For much of that time the kingdom of Judah had thrived. Uzziah had listened to the prophet Zechariah and walked in the ways of the Lord. But later on in his reign he had become arrogant and, on one occasion, he went into the temple to burn incense, a task which only priests could perform. Uzziah was struck down with leprosy and lived in isolation for the last years of his reign. The death of King Uzziah after such a long reign was clearly a turning point for Isaiah. His world had suddenly changed. One wonders what his mood was when he entered the temple. It is quite likely that he was feeling confused and insecure as the nation faced a major time of change. But in that moment God met with him in an amazing way. Suddenly he was overwhelmed by the majesty and holiness of God, and forced to take a completely new look at his life. God meets with us in many different ways. He can do so when we are in a church building or a garden. He can sp

Isaiah 5:7 There is only one reason why you would plant a vineyard. It would be because you wanted grapes. No one has ever planted a vineyard for any other reason. You certainly wouldn’t plant one for their natural beauty, or because you want to make use of their wood which struggles to burn. This chapter poignantly describes God’s desperate disappointment with his people. They were planted to be fruitful. He had gone to great lengths to prepare his vineyard, planting it on a fertile hill. God then ploughed the land, cleared its stones and planted one of the best of the vines. What could possibly go wrong? But the outcome was appalling. The result had been the exact opposite of what God had been looking for. Instead of the justice that he longed to see, he saw oppression; instead of righteousness there was murder. God had given his people free will and they chose to use it to oppose him rather than obey him. The most amazing fact is that God didn’t give up on his people. He had given them every opportunity to

Isaiah 2:4 This beautiful verse gives us an insight into the heart of God, who always longs for peace. In this passage we are given a vision of what the world will look like at the end of time when God takes charge and there is complete peace. The instruments of war will become useful agricultural implements, all war will cease and there will be no longer any need to train people to fight. It’s a stirring vision and one that should thrill us all. Our present world is continually in the grip of violence and war. They are characteristic of a world that lives in rebellion against God but, as we worship him, we need to remind ourselves of his longing for peace. It is so easy for us to feel that world politics and historic rivalries between nations are so complex that we cannot relate to them at all. But as followers of the God of peace we need to continually pray for peace, and long for a world in which warfare will have no place. Most of us live our lives far away from international politics but that doesn’t m

Isaiah 2:2-3 The previous chapter makes for scary reading. God is hopping mad at the unfaithfulness of his people. They have comprehensively let him down, and they are paying a terrible price for it. God’s blunt language is enough to make anyone blush as he comments: “See how Jerusalem, once so faithful, has become a prostitute. Once the home of justice and righteousness, she is now filled with murderers. Once like pure silver you have become like worthless slag” (Isaiah 1:21-22). It was a very grim predicament, but God still had a vision for how things could be in the future. The vision focuses on Jerusalem as the place which would transform everything. It would be the focus of peace and unity and people would stream there from all over the world. Yes, streams can flow uphill when God is at work! In Jerusalem, there would be teaching and the result would be that people would walk in God’s ways. That is to say the teaching would lead to action. There is nothing more dangerous than to study the Bible and to re

Isaiah 1:18 If you want to know what God’s like when he’s in a rage, read the first chapter of Isaiah. He is fuming. He simply can’t believe that anyone could treat him like this. After all he had done for his people it was as though they now didn’t even recognise his existence. God pointed out that even an ox and a donkey know who their owner is, but Israel didn’t seem to have a clue who their master was. The country was in ruins and beautiful Jerusalem had been abandoned. The situation was disastrous and yet, amazingly, the people continued with their religious practices. However, God was repelled by their worship because he knew that it didn’t come from their heart. He asked them to stop making their sacrifices and offering their meaningless gifts, and assured them that when they prayed he would refuse to listen. We spend so much of our time thinking of God’s love, generosity and kindness that it’s hard to think of him being so cross. It would be understandable if the chapter concluded by saying that i

Proverbs 28:23 The first three words are the crucial ones in this verse! At first, probably all of us would rather be overwhelmed by flattery than offered criticism. We all want to be loved and to have people tell us how wonderful we are. But, as the writer says, in the end honest criticism is far more valuable. We will be forever grateful for those words of wisdom that give us insight and enable us to live better lives. My driving instructor had a background in training police drivers and was very demanding. At the time, his words were strong and could even sound rather harsh. But I haven’t forgotten them and, as I look back now, I am so grateful for the guidance he gave. If he had showered me with unqualified praise it wouldn’t have been any help to me or any other road users! The problem with flattery is that it is like candy floss; it has no substance. Edmund Burke, the 18th-Century politician, said: “Flattery corrupts both the receiver and giver.” This is because it is a distortion of the truth.

Proverbs 28:13 Sin always tries to hide itself. It’s a pathetic process because it is always bound to fail. Sooner or later the sin will be revealed. Given that we are all sinners, and regularly do things that are well short of perfection, what we all need to know is what to do when we sin. The writer is clear that the best approach is to come clean. When we admit that we have done wrong and turn away from our sins, then we will find God’s mercy. In Psalm 32, King David reflected on how grim life was when he refused to confess his sin to God. He said: “My body wasted away, and I groaned all day long. Day and night your hand of discipline was heavy on me. My strength evaporated like water in the summer heat” (Psalm 32:3-4). The evil one will always try to persuade us that sin is fun and that we will easily be able to get away with it. But the truth is different. It is a burden that is difficult to carry and leads to guilt, shame and more bad decisions. The only way to get free from sin is to confess it a

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