Be Still And Know

Galatians 6:18 The story of John Newton is well known. He first went to sea with his father when he was eleven years old and soon became deeply involved in working on slave ships. It was a terrible experience and, after falling out with the crew of the Pegasus in 1745 he even found himself in slavery. Three years later, he was rescued and, on his return home, he read the Bible and became a Christian. He finally became a Church of England vicar and famously reflected on his conversion in his hymn ‘Amazing grace’. His life was completely transformed. He knew that it was entirely down to God’s gracious gift to him and, in his later years, he fought for the abolition of the slave trade. The apostle Paul often reflected on the amazing grace of God. The word ‘grace’ takes us right to the heart of God’s nature. He is a generous God who loves to share his gifts with us, and he did that supremely by sending Jesus into the world to be our saviour. When he wrote to the Ephesians, Paul said: “We praise God for the glo