Be Still And Know

Jonah 2.1-2 NLT Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from inside the fish. He said, “I cried out to the Lord in my great trouble, and he answered me. I called to you from the land of the dead, and Lord, you heard me!” The thought of spending three days and nights inside a large fish is well beyond my imagination. And the book of Jonah doesn’t do anything to satisfy our curiosity! This is no newspaper account of exactly what it looks and feels like to be swallowed by an enormous fish. This is the story of a man meeting with God at a time of extreme need. Jonah’s words echo many of the Psalms and reveal his sense of despair and abandonment. Life seemed to have come to a shuddering conclusion but, amidst his confusion, he cried to God and God heard him. God had not abandoned him, but was ready to hear his cries. Jonah had walked the path of disobedience and now, in the belly of the fish, he needed to set off in a new direction. Jonah’s situation reminds us of the Parable of the Prodigal Son. Just li

Jonah 1.1-3 NLT The Lord gave this message to Jonah son of Amittai: “Get up and go to the great city of Nineveh. Announce my judgment against it because I have seen how wicked its people are.” But Jonah got up and went in the opposite direction to get away from the Lord. Most Bibles will have the title “Holy Bible” on the cover and that could easily give the impression that it is a book stacked full of stories of really holy people. The sort of people who never take a step out of line, and who go around being real goody goodies from morning till night. It is surely a relief to us all that the Bible is nothing like that. At times it feels like the complete opposite of such a book! Jonah is a classic example. He is called by God and he is appalled by God’s command. Going to Nineveh was absolutely the last thing that he would ever want to do. The city was, at the time, one of the largest cities in the world and was famous for its sin. It stood at the heart of the great and menacing Assyrian Empire and everyt

Proverbs 20.29 NLT 'The glory of the young is their strength; the grey hair of experience is the splendour of the old.' Tension between the generations is not new. Aristotle in the 4th century BC once commented, “When I look at the younger generation, I despair of the future of civilisation.” Long after Aristotle’s day, in the year 1237, a monk named Peter gave his reasons for despair when he looked at the youth of his day. He wrote, “The young people of today think of nothing but themselves. They have no reverence for parents or old age. They are impatient of all restraint. They talk as if they know everything, and what passes for wisdom with us is foolishness to them.” The truth is that in every age there is a huge gulf between the generations and today’s proverb encourages us to look for the strengths of each age group. Everyone has something special to contribute. The young are unquestionably stronger than older people, andI ABS grey hair is a clear sign that the old have more experience of life than

Proverbs 20.20 NLT 'If you insult your father or mother, your light will be snuffed out in total darkness.' Family relationships were of central concern to the writer of Proverbs. The incredibly harsh language that he uses in this particular proverb shows his complete contempt for those who insulted their parents. No punishment was too great for those who were able to sink to such depths. Later in Proverbs the writer speaks with even greater passion, “The eye that mocks a father and despises a mother’s instructions will be plucked out by ravens of the valley and eaten by vultures.” Proverbs 30.17 The whole Bible speaks with one voice on this subject and it is not surprising that honouring parents was one of the Ten Commandments, standing alongside the commands not to murder, commit adultery or steal. All family relationships will be strained at times, but nothing can change our fundamental responsibility for our parents. The commandment is followed by the promise that if you honour your father and mother,

Proverbs 19.28 NLT 'A corrupt witness makes a mockery of justice; the mouth of the wicked gulps down evil.' Justice is a persistent theme throughout the Bible, because it is one of the characteristics of God. He loves justice. This is beautifully described in Deuteronomy 32.4 “He is the Rock; his deeds are perfect. Everything he does is just and fair. He is a faithful God who does no wrong; how just and upright he is!” It is because of God’s love of justice that he gave his people a very clear framework of rules. The first five books of the Bible, the Pentateuch, gave the Israelites the law which would guide every aspect of their lives. There were rules about the way in which they worshipped but also about their relationships with one another and rules of hygiene. God is interested in every part of life and so the rules were comprehensive. The Bible is clear that justice is fragile and needs to be carefully looked after. It can easily be perverted. The prophets showed particular concern about the evil of

Proverbs 19.18 NLT 'Discipline your children while there is hope. Otherwise you will ruin their lives.' The word discipline has a harsh ring to it, but the writer of the Proverbs is clear that it is absolutely essential for every parent to know how to do it. He saw discipline as the way in which parents show love to their children. In chapter 22 verse 6 he wrote, “Direct your children on to the right path, and when they are older, they will not leave it.” His many references to use of the rod suggest that the methods of disciplining have changed considerably, but the principle of discipline holds good. Every child needs to have the security of knowing what the rules are, and someone who will ensure that they are followed. A failure to put in place clear boundaries is, in the opinion of the writer, a sign of hatred towards children. I remember talking with a friend about his teenage years. His parents allowed him to do whatever he wanted and he thought this was great. It stood in marked contrast to those a

Proverbs 18.4 NLT 'Wise words are like deep waters; wisdom flows from the wise like a bubbling brook.' If you look at the history of many villages or towns you will find that they originally grew up because they were close to a river, brook or spring. The source of water gave them life and here Proverbs says that it is just the same with wisdom. Wisdom brings life wherever it goes and so wise people will centre their lives on it. I love the straightforwardness of the writer who sees a sharp distinction between wisdom and foolishness, life and death. Fools live a life that is firmly built on laziness and selfishness, and everything they do ends in disaster. But wise people, whose life is built on a reverence for God, will live a life that is characterised by love, understanding and generosity. Who then are the people whose wisdom will invigorate and strengthen us as we live for God? We all need to seek them out! They are not necessarily people with great knowledge, but they are people who know God well. Th

Proverbs 17.5 NLT 'Those who mock the poor insult their Maker; those who rejoice at the misfortune of others will be punished.' Every society has poor people and Jesus affirmed that that would always be the case. But that doesn’t mean that we should be unconcerned for the poor. The whole Bible encourages us to take the needs of the poor seriously and do everything we can to support them. Leviticus gave some very practical advice to ensure that the poor were helped. “When you harvest the crops of your land, do not harvest the grain along the edges of your fields, and do not pick up what the harvesters drop. It is the same with your grape crop—do not strip every last bunch of grapes from the vines, and do not pick up the grapes that fall to the ground. Leave them for the poor and the foreigners living among you. I am the Lord your God.” (Leviticus 19.9-10) Our verse is particularly concerned about those who look down on the poor and who even mock them. This isn’t merely rude but an insult to God who will en

Proverbs 17.4 NLT 'Wrongdoers eagerly listen to gossip; liars pay close attention to slander.' The Book of Proverbs was written more than 2,500 years ago, but the issues that it tackles are so up to date that you could imagine it was written yesterday! Today’s verse reminds us that there have always been gossips. There are many references to gossips in Proverbs and it is clear that the writer is deeply disturbed about their power to destroy relationships and make life miserable. Of course, everyone understands the magnetic power of juicy gossip. In Proverbs 18.8 NIV we read, “The words of a gossip are like choice morsels; they go down to the inmost parts.” The whole process of gossip is enticing. The gossip may draw you in by telling you that they haven’t told anyone else this piece of information. It’s because of your special relationship that they are giving you this privileged information. The gossip then shares their news in as dramatic a way as possible, and you are hooked. It’s a dangerous process,

Romans 16.3-5 NLT 'Give my greetings to Priscilla and Aquila, my co-workers in the ministry of Christ Jesus. In fact, they once risked their lives for me. I am thankful to them, and so are all the Gentile churches. Also give my greetings to the church that meets in their home.' This final chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans contains greetings to a number of specific people, and this gives us a fascinating window on the early church. We find that the Roman church was incredibly diverse in terms of race, social rank and gender. We can see in the following verses that it was composed of people from a Jewish and Gentile background. Some of the people have names that were common amongst slaves but alongside them we meet people like Aristobulus who, many scholars suggest, was the grandson of Herod the Great and friend of the Emperor Claudius. Particularly notable is the fact that of the 26 people named, nine of them were women. It’s also interesting to note that six of these women are described in terms of t

Romans 15.30 NLT 'Dear brothers and sisters, I urge you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to join in my struggle by praying to God for me. Do this because of your love for me, given to you by the Holy Spirit.' It is an incredible privilege to belong to the Christian family. As soon as you become a Christian you have brothers and sisters who are part of your new worldwide and eternal family. I treasure that moment recorded in Acts 9.17 when Ananias went to meet Saul after his encounter with Christ on the Road to Damascus. Ananias knew of Saul’s violent reputation and he was clearly surprised at the news that he had met the Lord, but we read that Ananias went into the house where Saul was staying placed his hands on him and said, “Brother Saul.” What a miracle! In today’s verse Paul speaks of the way in which his brothers and sisters could join him in his struggle. There is no doubt of their love and respect for Paul and I am sure that they were eager to do whatever they could to support him. Paul tells

Romans 15.23-24 NLT 'But now I have finished my work in these regions, and after all these long years of waiting, I am eager to visit you. I am planning to go to Spain, and when I do, I will stop off in Rome. And after I have enjoyed your fellowship for a little while, you can provide for my journey.' Paul’s love for the church in Rome is very clear and he can’t wait to visit them. I love the way in which he sets out his strategy so clearly. He was always looking to develop the mission of the church and so, having paid them a visit, he then aimed to go to Spain to preach the gospel. And in order to enable that mission to succeed he would be looking to the Roman church to support him in this. These few verses give us an insight into Paul’s heart and his plans, but, as we all know, it didn’t work out in the way that he had hoped. His first task was to go to Jerusalem in order to take the money that he had collected for the relief of the famine victims. He knew that that would be a potentially dangerous jour

Romans 15.13 NLT 'I pray that God, the source of hope, will fill you completely with joy and peace because you trust in him. Then you will overflow with confident hope through the power of the Holy Spirit.' Hope is a slippery word and so we need to be quite clear what Paul means by it. Normally when we use the word ‘hope’ there is a maybe in our voice. That is to say, we are not confident about something. So when I say that I hope it will be sunny tomorrow, you know that I mean well and would love to think that it might be sunny, but I also realise that it might not. Or if I say that I hope that the train will arrive on time, once again you will know that I’m not absolutely sure that that is what is going to happen. In order to understand Paul’s use of the word hope, we need to get rid of any suggestion of doubt, because he was absolutely confident that the future was secure in God’s hands. His future hope was built on the solid rock of Jesus’ death and resurrection. He doesn’t have any trace of doubt tha

Romans 15.5-6 NLT 'May God, who gives this patience and encouragement, help you live in complete harmony with each other, as is fitting for followers of Christ Jesus. Then all of you can join together with one voice, giving praise and glory to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.' You don’t need to be a genius to work out why Paul so often speaks about the issue of unity! It is clearly because he knew how hard it was to achieve. If the early church had always enjoyed harmonious relationships he could have kept quiet on the subject. His continual reiteration of the message of unity was because he knew that it was the demanding daily work of the church – and it still is! I am often struck by the fact that it is often very small issues which cause huge disputes in churches. It’s just the same in marriage. When I’ve had the privilege of walking with couples who have encountered difficulties almost always when I ask them to trace back to the original dispute they fall about laughing at the absurd triviali

Romans 14.1 NLT 'Accept other believers who are weak in faith, and don’t argue with them about what they think is right or wrong.' In every generation there are issues on which Christians have different opinions. You might care to dream of a world in which such tensions don’t exist but, I’m afraid that here on earth, that will never happen. So the question is what to do with those disputes and particularly in relation to young Christians. Paul offers very strong and practical advice. He is desperately concerned that such issues shouldn’t be a stumbling block to those who are weaker in the faith. He encourages his readers to respect one another’s different opinions and not to make a big issue of it. The two areas of tension in the Roman church concerned food and the celebration of special days. Those from a Jewish background had some very strict rules about their food and the sabbath. They were absolutely convinced that they were right, and clearly had no willingness to negotiate. Paul said that what matte

Romans 13.11-12 NLT 'You know how late it is; time is running out. Wake up, for our salvation is nearer now than when we first believed. The night is almost gone; the day of salvation will soon be here. So remove your dark deeds like dirty clothes, and put on the shining armour of right living.' In this life everything is limited by time. You might want to have another day to complete your revision but when the examination day comes, there is no more time. You might have lots of worthy things to do but the aeroplane won’t wait for you. You may be a great athlete and keen to do some more training, but when the starting pistol is fired, there is no more time. Paul wanted his readers to have a clear understanding that their time was fast running out and so they needed to be on their toes, ready to serve God here and now, and not to put it off. It would seem that Paul, in common with most of the early Christians, was expecting Jesus to return at any moment. However, the fact is that whether we die, or the Lor

Romans 13.1 NLT 'Everyone must submit to governing authorities. For all authority comes from God, and those in positions of authority have been placed there by God.' Our society has a high level of cynicism towards those in authority. There is a widespread suspicion of the motives of those with political power, and the media takes every opportunity to shoot politicians down in flames whenever they slip up. But the apostle Paul would encourage us to look at our politicians with spiritual eyes and to remember that all authority on this earth ultimately comes from God. Therefore, it is vital that we pray for those in authority and play our part as good citizens, obeying the laws of the land and showing our willingness to support the life of the community. But I can hear you asking a very big question, “What should we do if the governing authorities command us to do something that is contrary to God’s law?” Paul doesn’t address this issue and it might well be because, at this stage, he hadn’t encountered any

Romans 12.17-18 NLT 'Never pay back evil with more evil. Do things in such a way that everyone can see you are honourable. Do all that you can to live in peace with everyone.' The Christian life involves a complete rewiring of the way in which we think and live. It involves a total revolution in our lives because when someone does something evil to us the natural reaction is to retaliate. Everything in us makes us want to hit back. We want justice and we don’t want our attacker to think that they can get away with it. But Jesus’ way is different. He calls us never to take revenge but to leave that to God. Our job is to feed our enemies when they are hungry and to give them a drink when they are thirsty. We are to go out of our way to bless them and help them, and that is tough. That’s not the way we are naturally inclined to act, but it is the way of Christ and it is the way of peace. Paul wasn’t unrealistic. His life brought him into conflict with many people and he had no illusions that his teaching wou

Romans 12.9-10 NLT 'Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honouring each other.' Napoleon once said, “Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and I founded empires; but upon what did we rest the creations of our genius? Upon force. Jesus Christ alone founded his empire upon love.” It is impossible to exaggerate the importance of love. Without love there can be no church, no blessing, no joy, no future worth having. Everything depends upon love and here Paul is concerned that the Christians in Rome didn’t make do with a phoney love. He recognised that it is possible to pretend to love other people. We can do it by being superficial and merely polite with others, glancing over the surface of their lives without really engaging with them and their needs. What Paul longed for was for deep, compassionate, sacrificial love which would totally transform their life together. It is interesting that P

Romans 12.7-8 NLT 'If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.' In three of his letters Paul talks about the gifts that God has given to Christians, and each list is very different. Here and in Ephesians chapter 4 and 1 Corinthians chapter 12 he makes it clear that every follower of Christ has been given a unique gift from God which is vital for the church, the body of Christ. God gives his gifts according to the needs of the church, and I am quite sure that if Paul were writing today he would be keen to add the gift of helping with public address systems and digital technology. The Holy Spirit gives just the right gifts to his church to enable it to be effective. The point that Paul is making here is that, once you have found your