Be Still And Know

Proverbs 27:21 'Fire tests the purity of silver and gold, but a person is tested by being praised.' I wonder how you respond when someone praises you. Perhaps you are being praised for your excellent work, sporting skills, kindness or reliability. The writer of Proverbs makes the interesting observation that such praise is as critical a test of character as fire testing precious metals. That is to say, praise will expose the kind of person that you really are. There are basically three things that you can do with praise. The first option is to open wide and drink it all in. This is a dangerous path because it is likely to go to your head. It could inflate your understanding of yourself to the point that you become arrogant and unbearable to live with. The second option is to do everything you can to deny the plaudits and suggest that they have got it all wrong. This might sound like a humble approach but it could easily come across as arrogant and rude. The best way to handle praise is to acknowledge i

Proverbs 27:15-16 'A quarrelsome wife is as annoying as constant dripping on a rainy day. Stopping her complaints is like trying to stop the wind or trying to hold something with greased hands.' I’m not going to defend for a moment the pure sexism of this proverb. There’s absolutely no need for it. The fact is that anyone can be quarrelsome, whatever their gender! The writer is convinced that the quarrelsome person is very hard to stop. He makes it sound as if quarrelling has become their way of life and no amount of challenging will change them. Clearly, quarrelling is something that has happened since the dawn of time and it’s not surprising that the apostle Paul was fully aware of the problem. He instructed Timothy that “a servant of the Lord must not quarrel but must be kind to everyone, be able to teach, and be patient with difficult people” (2 Timothy 2:24). The sad truth, of course, is that any of us can be quarrelsome. It may be that we’re not feeling well, or we are generally unhappy with the sta

Proverbs 27:14 'A loud and cheerful greeting early in the morning will be taken as a curse!' This might sound a bit harsh but, if you’ve ever lived with someone who is irrepressibly loud and cheerful, you probably know what this verse is getting at. In life, it’s not so much what you say as how, when, where and why you say it. Basically, the writer is talking about people who are insensitive and, let’s be honest, we all know people like that. Let’s be a little more honest and admit that we’re also guilty of insensitivity too! In the previous chapter, the writer referred to someone who was completely insensitive and totally misread the situation. He saw them as serious liability. He wrote: “Just as damaging as a madman shooting a deadly weapon is someone who lies to a friend and then says: ‘I was only joking’” (Proverbs 26:18-19). Everything is wrong about this. He shouldn’t have been lying in the first place, and to try to pass it off as a joke just pours fuel on the fire. We all have something to learn f

Proverbs 27:12 A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences. Prudence isn’t a word that we hear much about these days, but it’s a wonderful word. The prudent person not only discerns the right thing to do, but does it. They make good plans and anticipate the problems that might occur. Our society is incredibly safety conscious and that is obviously a good thing, although it can easily be taken to extremes. There was a well-publicised story of a headteacher who insisted that children playing conkers should wear goggles, and suggestions that candy floss on sticks should be banned for fear of people tripping up and impaling themselves! Happily, the Health and Safety Executive disagreed with both approaches. What we need is to live and make our plans carefully and sensibly. Jesus spoke about the importance of planning when he talked about the person who proposed to build a tower. He pointed out that it was important to estimate the cost of comp

Proverbs 27:9-10 The heartfelt counsel of a friend is as sweet as perfume and incense. Never abandon a friend—either yours or your father’s. The writer Samuel Johnson once wrote: “Life has no pleasure higher or nobler than that of friendship.” I am sure we could all speak movingly of our friends. They are the people with whom we can laugh and cry, and be completely ourselves. It isn’t surprising that the writer of the Proverbs had much to say about friendships. He recognised how important they were in a happy and fulfilling life. We see many friendships in the Bible. Supremely we see the friendship between David and Jonathan. There was an immediate bond between them when they first met, and the friendship sustained them through desperately difficult times. Words are a crucial part of friendship and the writer of Proverbs observed how precious the counsel of a friend is. This doesn’t mean that a friend’s words are necessarily easy to hear. They may be deeply painful but, because they are motivated by love and

Mark 7:14-15 Then Jesus called to the crowd to come and hear. “All of you listen,” he said, “and try to understand. It’s not what goes into your body that defiles you; you are defiled by what comes from your heart.” The Pharisees had got really worked up by the fact that the disciples were not washing their hands properly before eating. Elaborate rules had been developed over the years and the Pharisees were meticulous in their adherence to them. They were sure that in order to be acceptable to God they needed to keep these rules, but Jesus turned their thinking upside down. He pointed out that just because you had really clean hands and followed endless religious rules it did nothing to change the person that you were. If you were seething with bitterness and anger, no amount of washing or other clever rituals were going to help. Jesus wanted to get to the heart of the matter. I honestly haven’t spent much of my life thinking about my heart. However, six years ago that all changed. I had cellulitis and, when

Mark 6:37 Jesus said, “You feed them.” “With what?” they asked. “We’d have to work for months to earn enough moneyto buy food for all these people!” The feeding of the 5,000 was a spectacular miracle, but Jesus didn’t rush into performing it. First of all, he challenged the disciples with a blunt command: “You feed them.” Just imagine what it would have been like to have been one of the disciples! Suddenly they have got to come up with an answer. They started thinking through the implications and quickly calculated that they would need to work for a long time to earn enough to feed such a huge crowd. They were firmly convinced that Jesus’ challenge was impossible. The problem was that they were thinking in purely human terms. Jesus was trying to help them to think beyond the normal limitations of life. Their response was entirely reasonable, but it didn’t take account of God. It left no room for miracles. As disciples of Jesus, they needed to stop thinking in purely practical terms and start seeing things fro

Mark 6:31 Then Jesus said, “Let’s go off by ourselves to a quiet place and rest awhile.” He said this because there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his apostles didn’t even have time to eat. The disciples had just returned from their first mission trip, and they were full of it. They couldn’t wait to update Jesus and he, in turn, was keen to hear what had been going on. So he invited them to head off with him to a quiet place where they could have quality time together and catch up on all the news. It was a great plan, but it failed spectacularly. As they headed off in their boat, the crowd spotted them and reached their destination before they did! I draw two conclusions from this fascinating account. Firstly, that Jesus valued the opportunity for taking time out. He cared for his disciples and was aware of the pressure that they were under. Mark records that there were so many people coming and going that Jesus and his disciples didn’t even have enough time to eat! They desperately neede

Mark 6:3 'Then they scoffed, “He’s just a carpenter, the son of Mary and the brother of James, Joseph, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters live right here among us.” They were deeply offended and refused to believe in him.' This is an agonising moment. Jesus is rudely dismissed by the people of Nazareth. They can’t work out how someone who they have known for the past 30 years has such an amazing ministry. Some of the people may have been to school with Jesus. Others would have known him and Joseph through their business. Through the centuries it has been believed that Joseph, and presumably Jesus, were carpenters – although we can’t sure. The word in Greek describes people who worked with stone and metal as well as wood. However whatever their precise line of work, they would have had customers and so Jesus was being rejected by people who knew him well. And their rejection of him was brutal. They wanted nothing to do with him. The people of Nazareth could only see Jesus in human terms. They knew his famil

Mark 5:18-19 As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon possessed begged to go with him. But Jesus said, “No, go home to your family, and tell them everything the Lord has done for you and how merciful he has been.” This healing took place on the east side of the Sea of Galilee. It was a very different area from the other side of the lake, where Jesus spent most of his time living and ministering. Most of the people on the east side were Gentiles. Jesus was confronted with a man who lived in the burial caves and who couldn’t be restrained. He was known as Legion because there were so many evil spirits in him. No doubt the local population lived in great fear of him. Whenever he was put in chains or shackles, he just snapped the chains and smashed the shackles. Jesus healed him and ordered the evil spirits to enter a local herd of pigs. Two thousand of them hurtled down the hillside and drowned in the lake. Inevitably, the owners of the pigs were outraged by this, and the local populati

Mark 4:38-39 Jesus was sleeping at the back of the boat with his head on a cushion. The disciples woke him up, shouting, “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re going to drown?” When Jesus woke up, he rebuked the wind and said to the waves, “Silence! Be still!” Suddenly the wind stopped, and there was a great calm. The account of Jesus stilling the storm is well known, but only Mark records the rather rude question of the disciples. To imply that Jesus didn’t care that they were about to drown suggests that they didn’t know him very well. They were still trying to work out who he was. Mark records that when he had brought calm to the situation, the disciples were absolutely terrified. With shock and surprise they asked: “Who is this man? Even the wind and the waves obey him!” When things go wrong, it is easy to lash out at God. In the heat of the moment, it is easy to suggest that God doesn’t care when we face rejection, illness, failure or an accident. But it’s a question that we never need to ask. God alway

Mark 4:26-27 Jesus also said, “The Kingdom of God is like a farmer who scatters seed on the ground. Night and day, while he’s asleep or awake, the seed sprouts and grows, but he does not understand how it happens.” This wonderful parable tells us why it is so exciting to work for God. As I sit down at my laptop to write these reflections I haven’t any idea how God will use them. I have no way of knowing who you are or what your needs are at the moment, but God knows and uses what I am putting in his hands. And when we care for another person, offer a word of encouragement or write a thoughtful email, people will be blessed by God in a way that is totally beyond our knowledge. It’s just the same for the farmer – who may not have any understanding of botany – but who simply knows that once he has put seeds in the ground, growth takes place. And it happens whether he’s working hard or sleeping in his bed. Let this be an encouragement to you. Nothing that you ever do for God is a waste of time. I am more than awa

Mark 4:21 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.” Jesus often spoke using parables. On the surface they were just simple stories but they all had a very deep spiritual meaning. Like me, you may well have been listening to the parables since you were young, and I am sure you will agree that they keep challenging and encouraging us in new ways. We are not always in a position to understand what God is saying to us, but he is always in the business of shining his light on our lives. He wants us to understand what his will is, and the Bible is one of the principle ways in which he chooses to speak with us. So the question we all need to ask is this: “How are we going to make sure that God’s light shines in our lives?” First of all, we need to set aside time to receive God’s truth. However busy your life is, you need to make sure that you have time to reflect on what God is saying t

Mark 3:34-35 Jesus looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.” The Gospels tell us remarkably little about Jesus’ family. We would so love to know about all his family members and the nature of his relationship with them, but the Gospels are largely silent. However, on this occasion we do meet them because they had clearly got the impression that Jesus wasn’t looking after himself. Earlier in this chapter we are informed that Jesus and his disciples were so busy that they couldn’t even find time to eat. Mark records that they had formed the view that Jesus was out of his mind, although we aren’t told why they thought that. When Jesus was told that his mother and brothers had come to see him, his response was to identify who his true family was. His forever family was composed of people who did God’s will. I don’t believe for a moment that Jesus was abandoning his birth family or seeking to insult them. He al

Mark 3:13 'Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him.' The calling of the twelve disciples is a fascinating moment in Jesus’ ministry. The fact that he chose to work with a group of people and not operate alone is of great significance. In this he affirmed the importance of fellowship. However gifted we may be, we need one another and our very different outlooks and abilities. Going it alone is never Jesus’ way. As a teenager, I met a very enthusiastic Christian who was determined that my home town should all follow Jesus. It was a wonderful vision to have but he was quite clear that he was going to do this by himself. He had a large leather bag, full of Christian tracts, and he was confident that he would be able to get the job done. His enthusiasm was commendable but his method was sadly wrong. We are never called to go off on heroic solo adventures but to work closely with our Christian brothers and sisters. Jesus’ disciples were a fasci

Mark 2:27-28 Jesus said to them: “The Sabbath was made to meet the needs of people, and not people to meet the requirements of the Sabbath. So the Son of Man is Lord, even over the Sabbath!” Some years ago, I spent a couple of months living in Mea Shearim in Jerusalem, which is home to a very large number of ultra-orthodox Jews. I very soon learnt, to my surprise, that the Sabbath begins late afternoon on Friday. It begins when the first star is seen in the sky and, from that moment, the shops shut and people go home to begin the rituals that mark the start of the Sabbath. There is something incredibly special about setting aside one day in seven as a day of rest. This was the example that God set when he created the world, and the law of Moses protected the day with a penalty of death for anyone who worked on the Sabbath. Over the centuries, the laws of the Sabbath were developed extensively. By the time of Jesus, there were scores of laws which regulated people’s activities on the day. There were, essen

Mark 2:22 Jesus said: “No one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.” We all know what happens to leather after a few years. It becomes hard and brittle. So just imagine what happens when you put wine into an old leather wineskin. The wine inevitably leaks away. In Jesus’ day, wine was largely stored in wineskins so everyone got the point. If you want to keep your wine, then you need to make sure that you only put it into new wineskins. Jesus’ teaching was radical and new. He was telling people about the new wine of the kingdom of God and firmly telling them that there was no point in them trying to put it into the old wineskins of Judaism. There needed to be a complete revolution. To use the language that he used in other places, it was vital for them to be born again. A new life needed to begin. Many people hear the teaching of Jesus and conclude that they need to turn over a new leaf. The

Mark 2:17 Jesus said: “Healthy people don’t need a doctor—sick people do. I have come to call not those who think they are righteous, but those who know they are sinners.” The way in which Jesus lived was a shock to the respectable religious leaders of his day. They were eager to do everything they could to avoid becoming ritually impure, as this would mean they couldn’t take part in temple worship. Jesus’ parable of the good Samaritan powerfully describes the situation. The first two people who walked past the wounded man were a priest and a Levite. Jesus wasn’t suggesting that they didn’t care. However, their priority was to remain ritually clean so that they could perform their duties in the temple. Jesus, on the other hand, didn’t seem to be bothered about staying ritually clean according to the Jewish law. He gladly associated with dodgy people, even though he must have known that this would have offended the religious leaders. Here, Jesus explained the reason why he acted in this way. It was because

Mark 1:35 'Before daybreak the next morning, Jesus got up and went out to an isolated place to pray.' Although Jesus’ ministry had only recently begun, he was clearly already very busy. His authoritative preaching and miraculous healings were attracting great interest and he had little time to himself. But he knew that his authority came from God his Father and so he needed to keep in close contact with him. That meant that he had to work hard to find a special time and place to pray. He knew that his ministry relied upon it. As we walk in the footsteps of Jesus, we need to work just as hard to find our special times and places to pray. One thing is certain – personal prayer won’t happen without discipline and determination. We will always be able to fill our time with other activities. The key thing is to become convinced that prayer is our priority and that other activities, however worthy and enjoyable, are of lesser importance. That’s often hard to accept because we tend to judge ourselves (and others

Psalm 108:1-2 92 'My heart is confident in you, O God; no wonder I can sing your praises with all my heart! Wake up, lyre and harp! I will wake the dawn with my song.' Isn’t it wonderful when you can say that you have total confidence in someone? Perhaps it’s your doctor or dentist, a plumber or a friend that, without hesitation, you could recommend to anyone. You know that they would never let you down. But the reality, of course, is that they are human. However wonderful they might be, they could become sick and, just occasionally, they may forget. You cannot be 100 per cent certain that they will always be reliable. However, our confidence in God is wonderfully different. The psalmist was so confident of God that he burst into song! He knew that God would never let anyone down and so he grabbed every instrument in sight and decided to wake up the day with his song. Martin Luther was a man who showed his confidence in God by courageously standing up against the Church authorities of his time. It would ha