Be Still And Know

Proverbs 25.12 NLT 'To one who listens, valid criticism is like a gold earring or other gold jewellery.' Johannes Kepler, the German astronomer, said, “I much prefer the sharpest criticism of a single intelligent man to the thoughtless approval of the masses.” All I can say is, “Good for Johannes Kepler!” but I suspect we all really enjoy people saying nice things about us. Sharp criticism might be very good for us, but that doesn’t mean that it is easy to hear, even if it is as valuable as gold. There are two challenges here. Firstly, how can we become better at sharing valid criticism with others? Every time I have received helpful criticism it is because it has been embedded within encouragement. It has been clear that the person offering the criticism was trying to help and only wanted to make me stronger and better able to use my gifts. It has often been said that if you need to offer criticism, 80 per cent of what you say should be encouragement. This isn’t a clever political ploy but a way of e

Proverbs 24.26 NLT 'An honest answer is like a kiss of friendship.' Like most of us, I am sure, I was brought up with the saying that honesty is the best policy. But what they didn’t tell me was that it’s often the most difficult policy. It’s often easier to keep the truth to yourself and not to share it because it might not be well received. Indeed, the hearer might be deeply offended by the truth. And so we can easily end up playing a kindly and courteous game of deceit. We say what other people want to hear and never dare to go anywhere near the sharp edges of truth. Whenever someone asks us how we are, we have to decide what level of truth to share. The customary answer “Fine” often reveals nothing at all and is simply used as a polite way of avoiding conversation. However, it would be gruesomely inappropriate to share everything about your life and feelings with everyone, all the time. What is vital is that there is a time and a place where we can be entirely honest. Life is full of thrills and spill

Proverbs 24.16 NLT 'The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.' The big question is not whether we experience failure, but what we do with it when it happens. The writer is clear that the person who knows God has resilience. We may get knocked back many times, but each time we are able to bounce back because we know that God is the one who inspires and strengthens us. He says that we may trip seven times but almost certainly he is using the number to represent an unlimited number of times. Nelson Mandela said, “Do not judge me by my successes, judge me by how many times I fell down and got back up again.” The reason that a godly person is resilient is because their confidence is in God and not in circumstances. This is most powerfully described by Habakkuk who declared, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the

Proverbs 23.29-30 NLT 'Who has anguish? Who has sorrow? Who is always fighting? Who is always complaining? Who has unnecessary bruises? Who has bloodshot eyes? It is the one who spends long hours in the taverns, trying out new drinks.' The abuse of alcohol is clearly not a new problem. These verses reveal a deep understanding of a challenge which continues to test our society. In the UK more than 8,000 people die from alcohol-related illnesses every year. Hospital admissions for alcohol-related conditions have risen by about 40 percent over the past ten years. Alcohol abuse is estimated to cost our society more than 20 billion pounds annually. Clearly this is a huge challenge, and it is amazing to see these proverbs, written so long ago, addressing the same issue with such power. Some people might think of the writer of Proverbs as being a kill joy, but his purpose was exactly the opposite. His intention was to kill misery, because he could see that alcohol could so easily ruin people’s lives. In the foll

Proverbs 23.17-18 NLT 'Don’t envy sinners, but always continue to fear the Lord. You will be rewarded for this; your hope will not be disappointed.' Here the writer tells us that we shouldn’t envy sinners, but the tenth commandment is much wider than that. It tells us that we shouldn’t envy at all. The last commandment tells us that we shouldn’t covet our neighbour’s house, wife, servant, ox, donkey or anything else that they own. We may admire and appreciate everything about our neighbour’s life but, when it turns to envy, the rot has set in. Envy is a potential problem for all of us because it has the ability to creep up on us slowly and subtly. It doesn’t announce itself with a fanfare, but slowly worms its way into our thinking. We see our neighbour’s beautiful house, lovely family and fabulous garden and start to wish that all those things were ours. After a while, we start to resent the fact that our neighbour has all those things and, through no fault of our own, we don’t. Surely we deserve just as

Proverbs 22.13 NLT The lazy person claims, “There’s a lion out there! If I go outside, I might be killed!” I love this wonderful book of Proverbs. There is so much blunt truth, and here the writer laughs his socks off at the lazy person who has always got an excuse for doing nothing. On this particular day he fears that there may be a lion outside, and is concerned that he may get killed. He considers that he’s got the perfect excuse for staying at home and doing nothing. The writer of these Proverbs spends a lot of time reflecting on lazy people, because he was so fearful of the disease of laziness. He saw that it led to poverty and distress, and was keen for everyone to focus their attention on ants, who were the exact opposite. In Proverbs 6.6 he wrote, “Take a lesson from the ants, you lazybones. Learn from their ways and become wise!” Ants are always busy and effective in their work, and we can all learn from them. I’m not accusing you of laziness – I’ll leave you to reflect on the issue. Although I’

Proverbs 22.3 NLT 'A prudent person foresees danger and takes precautions. The simpleton goes blindly on and suffers the consequences.' This proverb, like so many of them, is just sheer good sense. It’s the kind of statement that could easily be turned into a good fridge magnet! At one level it is screamingly obvious, but we all know how incredibly easy it is to act the part of the simpleton and to hurtle through life blindly without doing the necessary research. We live in a world that is full of potential risks and dangers and so it is sensible to come up with careful plans. This fridge magnet approach to wisdom is really helpful, so long as we put each one alongside other wise sayings. For example, Proverbs 16.3: “Commit your actions to the Lord, and your plans will succeed.” It’s good to plan but, as we do so, we need to commit the whole process into God’s hands. Jesus spoke about the importance of planning. He challenged people to follow him, but he didn’t want them to make this enormous step without

Proverbs 21.26 NLT 'Some people are always greedy for more, but the godly love to give!' Longing for more money and possessions is a terrible disease, but our materialistic society is built on the assumption that that is how we should all live. Long ago, the Greek philosopher Epicurus wrote, “Nothing is enough to the man for whom enough is too little.” And yet the place of true peace and contentment is where you know you have enough, and can stop working to find more. The apostle Paul said that he had “learned how to be content with whatever I have. I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything.” (Philippians 4.11-12). God’s desire for us is that our focus should never be upon seeking to acquire more, but to become better at giving. I love seeing generosity and I hope that I am always learning from the example of other people. I have a friend who always carries a significant number of bank notes with him. And the explanation he gave me was this, “You never know when the Lord might give you the o

1 Peter 5.8-9 NLT 'Stay alert! Watch out for your great enemy, the devil. He prowls around like a roaring lion, looking for someone to devour. Stand firm against him, and be strong in your faith.' I have visited Africa on a number of occasions and have gone on several safaris. The fun of safaris is that you never know what you are going to see. They are not at all like safari parks in this country where you are guaranteed to see a wide range of animals. On a safari in Africa there are some days when you will see very little, if anything, and so you need to be on the lookout all the time. On just one occasion I went on a walking safari. Our guide had a gun with him because of the possibility of danger and, as you can imagine, we were incredibly vigilant as we walked together. In the event, nothing dangerous happened and I live to tell the tale. Peter was acutely conscious of the dangers that confronted the early church. He knew from painful personal experience that the Church was threatened by the authorit

1 Peter 5.7 NLT 'Give all your worries and cares to God, for he cares about you.' Whether they are large or small, we all carry various cares and concerns. They may be focused on health issues for ourselves or those who are close to us. We may be concerned about the future, money, or what is happening in the world today. It is impossible to avoid a whole range of concerns, so the question isn’t whether we’ve got any, but what we do with them. If we hug them to ourselves, the likelihood is that they will turn into anxiety and end up dominating our lives. Peter encourages us to take decisive action by handing our worries and cares to God. The crucial statement that Peter makes is that God cares for us, and that takes us to the heart of the gospel. God could have stayed at a distance. He didn’t have to enter into relationship with us, but he chose to do so. In the Old Testament we see his care for the people of Israel, even though they frequently rebelled against him. This is poignantly described in the prop

1 Peter 5.5 NLT All of you, dress yourselves in humility as you relate to one another, for “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.” Some years ago I was privileged to attend a conference at St George’s Chapel, Windsor. We were given the task of identifying the most important personal qualities that were needed for strategic leadership. My small group included a chief constable, a general from the British Army, a managing director of a major engineering firm, a high-flying civil servant and a finance director of a large organisation. I was the only church leader. After many hours of fascinating conversation, the group decided that, without a shadow of doubt, the first quality that was needed was humility. Their point, which I gladly supported, was that a humble person was good at being flexible. They were very willing to admit when they had made a mistake and were eager to welcome other people’s ideas. Humility doesn’t often get a good press and I was amazed and delighted that this hugely com

1 Peter 5.1-2 NLT 'As a fellow elder, I appeal to you: Care for the flock that God has entrusted to you. Watch over it willingly, not grudgingly—not for what you will get out of it, but because you are eager to serve God.' After Jesus’ resurrection, he shared breakfast with his disciples beside the Sea of Galilee and, there, he commanded Peter to take care of his sheep. In today’s verses, which were written thirty or forty years later, Peter recognises that this crucial responsibility is one that he shares with many others. All churches need shepherds, people who have the gift of caring for other people and encouraging them in their Christian lives. Some of them may be paid for their ministry, but many will do it as a natural expression of their Christian service alongside other responsibilities. The truth is that we all need caring for. However old and experienced we may be as Christians, we need others to look out for us and pray for us. This is what is known as pastoral care but, sadly, this is often f

1 Peter 4.10-11 NLT 'God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another. Do you have the gift of speaking? Then speak as though God himself were speaking through you. Do you have the gift of helping others? Do it with all the strength and energy that God supplies.' The New Testament is absolutely clear that we each have a gift, but it’s interesting that, so often, when we identify someone’s particular gift we focus our attention on the receiver and not the giver. We talk about a gifted musician or preacher or cake-maker and praise them for their gift. But if we believe that such skills and abilities are a gift from God then, surely, we should be praising him for his generosity. In these verses, Peter encourages his readers to remember where their gifts came from, and their need to keep their eyes on God as they use them. Peter illustrated his point in two ways. Firstly, he spoke of those who have the gift of speaking. This is a particularly inter

1 Peter 4.7-8 NLT 'The end of the world is coming soon. Therefore, be earnest and disciplined in your prayers. Most important of all, continue to show deep love for each other.' The idea of the world coming to an end is a challenging thought, but Peter wasn’t in any sense threatening his readers. The New Testament writers all spoke of this as the climax and fulfilment of God’s purposes. The end of the world was something which everyone should look forward to with great excitement. The last days began with the coming of Jesus into the world and will come to an end with his return, which will be a matter of great joy. Whether Jesus returns to this earth within the next week or in a thousand years the time is limited, and Peter was concerned that this should focus his readers’ minds. There was no time to lose. The challenge that he posed in the first Century applies equally to us today as we anticipate the return of Christ. His challenge is that believers should be both earnest and disciplined in their praye

1 Peter 3.15-16 NLT 'If someone asks about your hope as a believer, always be ready to explain it. But do this in a gentle and respectful way.' When Peter wrote his letter, Christianity was still quite new and so I am sure that many people were very curious about it. They wondered what this new-fangled faith was all about, and Peter was keen that his readers shouldn’t miss any opportunity to talk about it. But it had to be done in the right way. If they were aggressive and disrespectful it could put people off for ever. So he urged them to be ready for every opportunity that came their way but to ensure that their responses were gentle and respectful. In our own society, so few people attend church that there is, once again, a great curiosity about Christian faith. Most people know that Christianity exists, but haven’t a clue what it’s about, so we all need to be ready to talk about our hope as believers. I know this may sound intimidating, but it shouldn’t. We don’t need to have all the answers, and in f

1 Peter 3.9 NLT 'Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate with insults when people insult you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing. That is what God has called you to do, and he will grant you his blessing.' If you have ever been insulted, you will know that the immediate reflex reaction is to want to even the scores. In the pain of the moment, we are all inclined to cry out for justice because it’s just not right that people should get away with insulting us. It would seem that Peter’s readers were well used to being insulted. Christianity was a new phenomenon, and its teachings stood in sharp contrast to the thinking of the time. Christians faced verbal and physical attacks on a regular basis. Christians have been under attack at many times throughout the past 2,000 years. There are horrifying stories of the ways in which the Salvation Army was attacked in this country in the latter part of the 19th Century. There are distressing accounts of dead animals, some set alight, being hurled at passing Sa

1 Peter 3.3-4 NLT 'Don’t be concerned about the outward beauty of fancy hairstyles, expensive jewellery, or beautiful clothes. You should clothe yourselves instead with the beauty that comes from within, the unfading beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is so precious to God.' I don’t feel competent to comment on fancy hairstyles, expensive jewellery or beautiful clothes; I’ve never had any of them! However, I don’t believe that Peter was saying that these things were wrong in themselves. His point was that they shouldn’t be our priority, and they certainly shouldn’t become a matter of concern for us. Our priority needs to be our inner selves, or what we would often call our character. Our society is obsessed with image. What matters is how we look and the impression that we leave on other people through our appearance. There is no doubt that these things can easily become a matter of anxiety and Jesus drew attention to this. In his Sermon on the Mount, he spoke about people’s anxiety about their fo

1 Peter 2.21 NLT 'For God called you to do good, even if it means suffering, just as Christ suffered for you. He is your example, and you must follow in his steps.' I’ve known some wonderful people, and I am sure you have as well. I have only to think of words such as kindness, graciousness, love, thoughtfulness, joy, integrity, hospitality and hope, to be reminded of people who have reflected those qualities to me in a very special way. They weren’t perfect, but I saw something that was beautiful in their lives, and my life has been enormously enriched through knowing them. It’s good to follow the example of other Christians and, on a number of occasions, the apostle Paul encouraged his readers to follow his example. But we need to remember that the supreme example that we need to follow is of Jesus himself. Jesus was unlike anyone else who has ever lived, because he was perfect. There was nothing that was even slightly impure or imperfect about his life and so we would be well advised to follow his exam

1 Peter 2.18 NLT 'You who are slaves must submit to your masters with all respect. Do what they tell you—not only if they are kind and reasonable, but even if they are cruel.' Everything about slavery is horrifying. The idea that someone could own another human being sounds barbaric, and so it is difficult for us to handle a verse like this which doesn’t seem to raise any objections to the institution of slavery. Indeed, slaves were told to respect their masters and to obey them, even when they were cruel. At the time of the early Church, slavery was extremely common. About 20 percent of the population were slaves and there was never any serious thought that the institution should be dismantled. It’s also important to realise that under Roman law, slavery was heavily regulated. Slaves received very low wages but they lived with the hope that, one day, they might be able to purchase their freedom. Slavery at any time is an odious idea, but clearly the experience was nowhere near as hellish or dehumanising

1 Peter 1.16 NLT 'You are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.' On the face of it this verse doesn’t seem to make much sense. Surely freedom means that you can do whatever you like. All constraints have been thrown off and you can do exactly what pleases you. But it doesn’t take long to realise that this kind of freedom would be a horrific experience. If you were able to do whatever you wanted, then you would have a licence to dominate everyone else and to destroy whatever you liked. Freedom ruled by our own selfishness would be nothing less than hell on earth. The New Testament introduces us to the concept of true freedom, and that can only be found by being slaves to God’s will. By finding his perfect will for us we are set free to be everything that God intended us to be. We are free to reach our full potential. When we get to heaven God will not ask us, “Why weren’t you like Abraham, Moses, David or the apostles?” He will look to us to be everything that we we