Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Acts 1:3-4
During the forty days after [Jesus] suffered and died, he appeared to the apostles from time to time, and he proved to them in many ways that he was actually alive. And he talked to them about the Kingdom of God. Once when he was eating with them, he commanded them, “Do not leave Jerusalem until the Father sends you the gift he promised.”
Luke wrote two books: his gospel and what is often called “The Acts of the Apostles”. The first tells us what happened during Jesus’ earthly ministry and the second describes the birth and growth of the Church. However, before Luke launched into the Church’s story, he wanted his readers to know that there was no doubt about Jesus’ resurrection. He knew that everything hinged on it, so he informed his readers that Jesus met with His disciples on a number of occasions, even sharing meals with them.
It was clearly a tumultuous time for the disciples. They had experienced the trauma of Jesus’ appalling death and the exuberant joy of His resurrection and were now contemplating what life would be like after He’d left them. Jesus fully realised this and wanted His disciples to know He’d made perfect provision for their needs. All they had to do was wait, and then within a few days they would be baptised with the Holy Spirit. Mysterious as God’s plans were for them, they could look to the future with confidence.
Our situation is not so different from those disciples’. We have the blessing of living in the days of the Spirit, but there is still much about the future that is completely unknown to us. The shocking experience of Covid has made it clear how completely unpredictable the future is. We don’t know might happen here on earth, and we all have many questions about what will happen after we die. However, in common with the disciples, we can face the future with confidence, knowing that God has made perfect provision for us.
Question
What are your thoughts when you look to the future?
Prayer
Thank You, loving Lord, that my future is in Your hands. Help me to trust You completely and find peace in Your plans. Amen

Psalm 113:5-7
Who can be compared with the LORD our God, who is enthroned on high? He stoops to look down on heaven and on earth. He lifts the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump.
When you hear that God is enthroned on high, it’s easy to assume that He must therefore be totally disconnected from the harsh realities of our world. The psalmist makes it clear that the reverse is true. Mighty and exalted as He undoubtedly is, God is also intimately concerned about what is happening here in the world, so much so that He not only looks down at what is going on but takes action to rectify the situation.
The whole Bible shows a concern for the poor. The law of Moses insisted on the poor being protected and supported, the prophets continually reminded people of their duty to care for the most vulnerable and Jesus went out of His way to reach out to the weak and marginalised. In every society, there are poor people, and yet the majority try to get on with life as if they didn’t exist.
God calls us to care for the poor in our world today. The facts are staggering and deeply disturbing. According to the World Bank, 700 million people live in extreme poverty, which they define as living on less than $3 a day. The majority of these people live in sub-Saharan Africa, followed by South Asia. However, poverty is present in every society. It is often carefully hidden, but none of us lives far away from people whose lives are distorted and restricted by a lack of money.
God is still in the business of lifting the poor from the dust and the needy from the garbage dump and looks to us to make it happen.
Question
In what ways are you able to help the poor in your community?
Prayer
Lord God, I thank You that You care for the poor and vulnerable. Help me to find ways to reflect Your love to all those who are marginalised in my community. Amen

Psalm 112:4
Light shines in the darkness for the godly. They are generous, compassionate and righteous.
I will never forget my visit to Ruby. She was dying and knew that her end was very near. It was late in the afternoon when I went to her cottage and daylight was fading, but my overwhelming memory of that visit is of her radiant smile. On paper, the situation seemed so sad and hopeless, but Ruby didn’t see it that way. She knew God as a friend and was looking to the future with genuine excitement because she knew that He could be trusted. For Ruby, the light still shone.
Over the years, I have had the privilege of meeting many people whose life circumstances looked dark and forbidding, but whose faith in God meant that they simply didn’t see it that way. I think of prisoners, people with disabilities, those who had been thrown out of their communities because of their Christian faith and others who, through no fault of their own, were facing financial ruin. In each of their lives, the light was shining. Humanly speaking, it was unrelieved darkness, but because of their faith in God, a brilliant light shone that nothing could extinguish.
This whole psalm is a wonderful description of the person who has centred their life on God. They are generous and kind and are able to live their life with confidence because of their faith. They don’t spend their time fearing bad news because “they confidently trust the Lord to care for them. They are confident and fearless” (Psalm 112:7-8). The psalmist doesn’t deny the reality of life’s problems and threats. He doesn’t for a moment suggest that there is no darkness in the world. His point is that the godly person is able to see the light shining whatever the circumstances, and who wouldn’t want to be like that?
Question
In whose life have you seen light shining in the darkness?
Prayer
Lord God, I thank You that Your light shines even in the darkest of situations. Amen

Psalm 111:1-2
Praise the LORD! I will thank the LORD with all my heart as I meet with his godly people. How amazing are the deeds of the LORD! All who delight in him should ponder them.
It is, of course, possible to praise God anywhere, but there is something incredibly precious about getting together with others to worship Him, and it is wonderful to think of God’s people doing that for thousands of years. Whether it is in a small remote village chapel, a vast cathedral or a tent, the experience of worshipping God with other people is inspiring, encouraging and unifying.
The psalmist encourages worshippers to think about what God has done. When we worship God, we need to take time to reflect carefully on what He has done in creation and throughout history. I was interested to learn that verse 2 was placed over the entrance to the Cavendish Laboratory in Cambridge, where some of the most important scientific discoveries have been made. Researching and pondering are important activities. We need to find space to explore, to see things in new ways and to allow God to open up new truths to us.
These Bible notes have been written to help us all to ponder. It’s so easy for us to hurtle into our days without much reflection. We can get into a predictable rhythm of life and become so focused on the tasks in front of us that we have no time to reflect at all. It’s good to set aside a definite time in the day when we can listen to God and reflect on Him. That might be while walking the dog, while travelling to work or in the peace of our homes. It really doesn’t matter where it happens, but we all need to carve out time when we can stand back from life and allow God to speak with us. Pondering is probably the most important thing we can do in the whole day.
Question
Where do you find the time and space to ponder?
Prayer
God our Father, I worship You, for You are so great. Help me to find time to worship You and to reflect on all that You have done. Amen

Psalm 108:1-2
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 you are totally confident about someone? Perhaps it’s your doctor, dentist, plumber or friend. Without hesitation, you can commend them to someone else. You know they will never let anyone down. The reality, of course, is that they are human and, however wonderful they might be, they might become sick, and they might forget. You cannot be 100% certain that they will be reliable. However, our confidence in God is wonderfully different. The psalmist was so confident of God that he burst into song! He knew God would never let anyone down, 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 the time. It would have been so much easier to have kept quiet, but the idea of buying indulgences was abhorrent to him. If someone bought an indulgence to support the rebuilding of the St Paul’s Basilica in Rome, it was said that their sins would be forgiven. Luther would have none of it. The God he knew graciously forgave those who came to Him by faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. He wrote: “Faith is a living, daring confidence in God’s grace, so sure and certain that the believer would stake his life on it a thousand times.”
The apostle Paul often spoke of his total confidence in God. That was why he was willing to take such extreme risks in his ministry. He wrote to the church in Rome: “I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow – not even the power of hell can separate us from God’s love” (Romans 8:38).
If we are to stand strongly for God in a society which largely rejects Him, we too need to have total confidence in Him. The psalmist and Paul would encourage us to have just that.
Question
Do you have total confidence in God?
Prayer
Lord God our Father, I thank You that I can be certain of Your love and goodness for time and eternity. Amen