Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Acts 17:16
While Paul was waiting for them in Athens, he was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols.
We have no reason to think that Paul intended to spend time in Athens. He was merely there for a few days while he waited for Silas and Timothy to catch up with him. The threats to his safety had got too serious in Berea, so he had been escorted south to the relative safety of Athens. He surely needed a good break after the dangers and pressures of the recent months of ministry. However, Paul wasn’t one for holidays, so he spent his time walking around the city reflecting on all that he saw. Politically, Athens had become far less significant than it had been in the past, but it was still a leading centre of culture. It was famous for its sculpture, literature and philosophy, and Paul was clearly fascinated by all that he observed - but also deeply distressed. The city was full of temples and images of pagan gods, and Paul, who had been brought up as a very strict Jew, was alarmed.
I find this a deeply challenging verse. We too live in a society which is full of idols, and it seems to me that the Church is hardly troubled by this at all. We have come to accept that that’s just the way it is – unfortunate, but just one of those things. Vibrant Christian evangelism and mission occurs when the Church wakes up and feels, as Paul did, deep distress at the idolatry of society.
Question
What are the main idols in contemporary society?
Prayer
Lord God, help me to open my eyes to our world’s desperate need for You. Amen

Acts 17:11
Now the Berean Jews were of more noble character than those in Thessalonica, for they received the message with great eagerness and examined the Scriptures every day to see if what Paul said was true.
Every preacher longs to meet people like the Bereans. They were really open to the Christian message, but they didn’t simply accept everything that Paul and Silas had to say. They looked carefully at the Old Testament scriptures to make sure what they had been taught was right. Having been a preacher for many years, I can’t tell you how much I love it when people question what I’ve said. Although I will always seek to write and teach carefully, I’m far from perfect, and I need to be kept on my toes.
I encourage you to get to grips with the Bible. If these daily notes help you to get into God’s word, that’s great, but don’t leave it there. I would always encourage you to do more digging. It is particularly valuable to get to grips with the whole Bible. Some parts are easy to understand and bring immediate encouragement. Others are harder work and you will need to spend much more time to understand their meaning. But it is all the word of God, and you will gain enormous blessing from getting to know it better.
We are all different, and there isn’t one right way of studying the Bible. What matters is that, like the Bereans, we are open-minded and always eager to learn more.
Question
What are you doing to get to grips with the Bible?
Prayer
Lord God, thank you for the gift of the Bible. Help me to appreciate it more and more. Amen

Acts 16:25-26
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken.
The ministry of Paul and Silas in Philippi soon hit the buffers when they healed a slave girl who was a fortune teller. She had made good money for her owners until the moment God healed her, and they were furious when they realised their source of income had disappeared. They dragged Paul and Silas into the marketplace, where the two men were beaten and imprisoned. Since they’d had a very specific call from God to serve Him in Macedonia, you wouldn’t be surprised if they were feeling very let down by Him. But there they were in a top security prison cell praying and singing hymns to God! What amazing men they were. To cap it all, the prison was suddenly shaken by an earthquake.
This is a gripping story, and it helps us to see what Paul meant when he wrote in Ephesians 5:20 about “always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. On the face of it, Paul and Silas didn’t have anything to give thanks for when they were slung into that prison cell. Everything seemed to have gone disastrously wrong. But when the focus of our lives is God Himself, however terrible the circumstances, we will always have reason to give thanks.
Question
For what reason can you give thanks to God right now?
Prayer
Lord God our Father, whatever is going on in my life, I always have reason to praise You. Thank You that You are always worthy of my praise. Amen

Acts 16:15
When Lydia and the members of her household were baptised, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
Paul’s first convert in Europe was a businesswoman. Lydia came from what we now know as western Turkey and was a dealer in the purple cloth for which her home area was famous. As Paul travelled around, he normally began his ministry in a synagogue, but it would seem that there wasn’t one in Philippi. So he went to the river, where he met up with a group of women who gathered together to pray. As Paul spoke with them, Lydia responded to his message and was baptised. It is fascinating to see that her first response was to offer hospitality, and it seems that she was very insistent.
Hospitality was crucial for the early Church because there were no Christian buildings for many years. The only way they could meet was by people generously opening up their homes. In many ways, our homes are an extension of our personalities, and it is possible to become extremely possessive of them. The suggestion that “an Englishman’s home is his castle” isn’t just a jokey saying. It is possible to be defensive and selfish about where we live. However, the New Testament frequently encourages hospitality. It is good if we have a secure home that we love, but in common with all God’s gifts, our homes are given to us so that we can give them away.
Question
In what ways have you experienced the blessing of Christian hospitality?
Prayer
God our Father, thank you for the gift of my home and for the privilege of being able to share it with others. Amen

Acts 16:9-10
During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, “Come over to Macedonia and help us.” After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia.
We should never put a limit on the ways in which God might choose to speak to us. Yesterday, we saw God putting a block on Paul’s plans. Today, He makes it crystal clear where Paul should go next. In a vision, Paul saw a man from Macedonia pleading with him to go and help. We receive no information about what this vision was like, although we might presume it was while Paul was dreaming. I wonder how you interpret your dreams. Much of the time dreams are, in my experience, extraordinary and impossible to unravel. If I can remember them at all beyond breakfast, they don’t seem to have any lasting significance. But dreams play an important role in many parts of the Bible, so God might well use them to guide us. Paul was clearly entirely sure that the vision was sent from God, so he and Silas immediately set out to Macedonia.
We need God’s guidance on a continual basis, because every day we need to make decisions. God will often guide us through our experience, prayer, the Bible, sermons and our friends, but we should not close the door to any way in which He might choose to speak to us. Perhaps in the future He will choose to speak to you through a film, a painting, a flower, a bird – or even a dream.
Question
In what different ways has God made His guidance to you clear?
Prayer
Loving Father, help me to hear Your voice, however You choose to speak to me. Amen