Be Still and Know Daily Bible Devotion

Psalm 106:6-7
Like our ancestors, we have sinned. We have done wrong! We have acted wickedly! Our ancestors in Egypt were not impressed by the LORD’s miraculous deeds. They soon forgot his many acts of kindness to them. Instead, they rebelled against him at the Red Sea.
I strongly recommend that you read through this psalm and the previous one because they are twins. In Psalm 105, we hear about all the amazing things that God did to guide and strengthen His people from the earliest days until their entry into the Promised Land. Now in Psalm 106, the psalmist takes another tour through the history of God’s people and concludes that, humanly speaking, it was a complete disaster. Just as God was consistently faithful and loving, His people were repeatedly faithless and disobedient. But the psalmist didn’t simply point the finger at people in the past. He recognised that his own generation was also guilty of disobeying God and forgetting to walk in His ways.
As we look back through human history, there is much that we can learn. Every page of history contains accounts of bad decisions and stupid failures and, if we are honest, we aren’t so very different. Our lives fall well short of perfection and we need to own up and find out how we can live them in a richer, fuller and more obedient way. The point of looking back is that we can learn. We don’t have to repeat the past. Instead, we can set off on a new journey inspired by its lessons.
The most consistent fault of God’s people in this psalm was the sin of forgetting. I’m sure that we will all own up to the sin of forgetting. A lot of the time, it doesn’t matter that much. We may forget someone’s name or whether they take milk in their tea. Such things are minor. Forgetting God is another matter. Time and again, we read that the people of Israel forgot how God had blessed them. They carried on with their lives as if God didn’t exist. We need to do everything we can to remember who God is and what He has done. We need to ensure that we maintain a rhythm of worship and prayer so that we can’t possibly forget our great God.
Question
What do you do to ensure that you don’t forget what God has done in your life?
Prayer
Loving God, thank You that You never forget me. Help me to make sure that I never forget You. Amen

Psalm 105:1-2
Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing his praises. Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
In this beautiful psalm, the writer rooted his praise in how God had acted in history. He looked back to how God had led Abraham, Jacob, Joseph and finally Moses. Through the years, God had been consistently faithful to His people, and they had every reason to rejoice. The psalm was written for a very specific moment in Israel’s history when David brought the ark to the place of meeting in Jerusalem. In 1 Chronicles 16:7, we are told that David gave Asaph and his fellow Levites this psalm as a song of thanksgiving to the Lord. It wasn’t a general song of worship but one which specifically charted how God had been at work among His people.
We need to remember our history. A birthday is a brilliant moment for looking back, and every church would be wise to have a specific annual moment to reflect on its history. It’s very easy to forget the story of faith of a church community unless it is regularly repeated. We need to listen to the people who were part of the church ten, 20, 30, 40 or more years ago. Almost certainly, there will have been times of encouragement and despair, success and failure, growth and decline, but through it all God has been faithful and we need to celebrate together. If your church has only been planted in the last few years, listen to the stories of faith from those who founded the church and the ways in which God led them.
Our remembering should never be a selfish activity to make us feel good about life, but should always lead us to action. As we recall the history of what God has done, we are challenged to go forward with the mission on which He has sent us. That will always involve proclamation. We will want to proclaim God’s faithfulness within our churches in order to encourage one another, and then to everyone else we meet in order to help them to see how great God is.
Question
In what ways does your own church celebrate the history of what God has done?
Prayer
Loving God, I praise You for your faithfulness. Help me never to forget the amazing things that You have done. Amen

Psalm 104:24-25
O Lord, what a variety of things you have made! In wisdom you have made them all. The earth is full of your creatures. Here is the ocean, vast and wide, teeming with life of every kind, both large and small.
Many of the psalmists use the wonder of creation as a springboard for their worship. This particular psalm does so by reminding us of the six days of creation. The poetic language is beautiful. Take, for example, day one, when God made light. He writes: “You are dressed in a robe of light. You stretch out the starry curtain of the heavens; you lay out the rafters of your home in the rain clouds. You make the clouds your chariot; you ride upon the wings of the wind. The winds are your messengers; flames of fire are your servants” (Psalm 104:2-4). As he looks through the days of creation, it becomes clear that God didn’t create the world and then disappear but continues to be actively involved.
It is good for us to spend time reflecting on creation because as we do so, we are bound to gasp in wonder. Sir Isaac Newton, the famous scientist, said: “In the absence of any other proof, the thumb alone would convince me of God's existence.” Our bodies are thought to be made up of about 100 trillion cells. We all have about 100 billion neurons, which fire off between five and 50 messages each second. I could go on, but however you happen to be feeling today, let me assure you that you are simply amazing. If you look at a flower, you will need to gasp some more. The intricate detail of each petal and leaf is amazing, to say nothing of the miracle of growth. Wherever you look, creation screams at us that God is a great God and worthy of all our praise.
Many of us were taught from an early age to pray with our eyes shut to save us from distractions, but I would strongly encourage you to pray with your eyes open from time to time. Look at the people around you and the world that God has made and give thanks to him for the wonder of His creation. As we do so, let us gasp in wonder. Thomas Carlyle said that “wonder is the basis of worship”, and I think he was right.
Question
When did you last gasp at creation and why?
Pray
Creator God, I worship You. Forgive me for those times when I have taken Your amazing world for granted. Teach me afresh how to enjoy the wonder of Your creation. Amen

Psalm 103:2-4
Let all that I am praise the LORD; may I never forget the good things he does for me. He forgives all my sins and heals all my diseases. He redeems me from death and crowns me with love and tender mercies.
This psalm begins with King David talking to himself! He called to mind how his life had been wonderfully blessed by God and concluded that his whole being needed to be involved in giving thanks for God’s generosity to him. In the words of the famous hymn ‘Praise, my soul, the King of heaven’, he had been ransomed, healed, restored and forgiven. Surely he had his adultery with Bathsheba in mind as he wrote this psalm. He had foolishly strayed from God’s way, and one disaster followed another until he repented and received God’s healing and forgiveness. As he reflected on how God had dealt with him, he not only praised the Lord but also urged the whole world to join him! In the final verse of the psalm, he proclaimed: “Praise the Lord, everything he has created, everything in all his kingdom” (Psalm 103:22).
It's important that we talk to ourselves! I know it’s often seen as the first sign of madness, but I much prefer the observation that it’s actually the first sign of gladness! It’s good to remind ourselves of the ways in which the Lord has blessed our lives. We may not have known the dramatic ups and downs of King David’s life, but we have all had moments of success and failure, of blessing and disobedience, of fulfilment and loss, and through it all God has been faithful. We need to ensure we are continually giving thanks to God for all that He has done in our lives and taking the opportunity to encourage others to do the same.
Question
As you look back through your life, what are the main reasons why you want to praise God?
Prayer
Lord God, I thank You that You have been so generous to me. Help me to make praise increasingly central to my life. Amen

Psalm 101:1-2
I will sing of your love and justice, LORD. I will praise you with songs. I will be careful to live a blameless life—when will you come to help me?
I will lead a life of integrity in my own home.
Here, David reflects on his responsibility as king to care for the whole of society and to ensure that justice prevails. The final verse of the psalm gives us a powerful picture of his daily work “to ferret out the wicked and free the city of the Lord from their grip” (Psalm 101:8). It was no easy task, and he knew it would be impossible if he wasn’t practising justice and integrity at home. Whenever we are told that a politician’s private life is their own personal matter and of no consequence to their public duties, we know that they are talking nonsense! King David was far from perfect, but he was clear that it was vital for him to live a consistent life.
Living a consistent life is not easy! It’s no wonder that when David proclaims his intention to be careful in living a blameless life, he asks the question: “when will you come to help me?” He knew he couldn’t do this by himself. He needed God’s inspiration and strength to live a consistent life. I don’t know what your life looks like. You will have tensions, blessings and challenges that are very different from my own, but I do know that only God can enable you to live a life of consistent integrity.
These thoughts should spur us to pray for all those who live in the public eye. I believe we have a special responsibility to pray for our Christian brothers and sisters who bear public responsibilities and whose lives are always under the spotlight. Let’s pray they will know God’s daily renewing strength so that there is no gap between their home and public lives.
Question
How can you ensure that you live for God both at home and beyond?
Prayer
Loving Father, thank You that You are present in every part of my life, and that You give me the strength to live for You, whatever the circumstances and pressures. Amen