Nothing could settle my mind. Old thoughts swirled like muddy currents of a flooding stream. I found myself inappropriately angry over a minor inconvenience. The words on the page of the book I held were just that – words. Thankfully, there was a driveway covered with ice and snow waiting to be cleared! The labor gave me a place to focus, a way to forget the inner storm, for a couple of hours while I prayed inwardly to find the peace of God once again.
Isaiah invites us to enter the promise of God. "Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the LORD, who has compassion on you." (Isaiah 54:10, NIV) The peace of which the Scripture speaks is not simply the absence of fighting, it is a state of being.
“Shalom” is the Hebrew word and it is about being whole, made complete, having a tranquil mind, and enjoying a place of prosperity! The context of the promise is about the restoration of Jerusalem after her destruction by invaders. God speaks and says that though He allowed her to experience His anger, it was but a moment. Now she would be made whole. She would rejoice like a woman abandoned by her husband who finds new love. “For your Maker is your bridegroom, his name, God-of-the-Angel-Armies! Your Redeemer is The Holy of Israel, known as God of the whole earth. You were like an abandoned wife, devastated with grief, and God welcomed you back, like a woman married young and then left,” says your God.” (Isaiah 54:5-6 The Message)
Paul teaches Christians that they are brought into that promise, that the covenant of peace belongs to us through Christ, for we are brought into God’s favor by Him! "Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise." (Galatians 4:28, ASV)
So let me ask it again – are you entering into the promise of God, living in His holy peace, the ‘shalom’ of holy covenant?
The ‘peace’ exists, but we must possess it! When the affections of our heart are misplaced on the things of this earth, we become unsettled, confused, torn between two loves- Self and God. We need not be terrible sinners to find the peace of God lost. When fatigue builds, when physical illness overtakes us, when pressures mount with multiple responsibilities, when disappointment finds us and hangs on doggedly – we may find ourselves in a storm. But God is God and His holy Shalom is still real. Will we enter into it?
Richard Foster teaches about ‘centering’ ourselves. When our situation in life appears to be careening towards disaster it is counter to every natural desire to step away, to take up the discipline of waiting on the Lord, but that is exactly where peace can be discovered. We need to be re-centered on Jesus but the process can be so hard. Though it may seem clichéd to say, we must be willing to ‘let go and let God be God.’ To be honest, when our minds are filled with tumbling thoughts and fears, being quiet and alone is probably the last thing we want to do. Why? Because we have no distraction or sense of control. We want to run to something, someone, somewhere that drowns out the noise of our fears. God, the Holy Spirit, invites us to enter in, to stand before Him, and allow His peace to overtake us. We may feel like Elijah who stood on the mountainside – through an earthquake and a tempest of wind- before he heard the ‘gentle whisper’ of the Lord. (1 Kings 19:10-12)
Here’s the word from the Word. Meditate on it. If you are without peace today, spend time with Him, and quietly wait out the storm. "Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you." (Philippians 4:6-10, NIV)
Amen
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