Where can peace be found?
It doesn’t take much to get us riled up. There are good reasons for losing patience, feeling overwhelmed, being cumbered with worry, and frustration. Sometimes, it seems we can’t catch a break, especially when we have done all that’s needed—to the best of our ability. Anyone can reach a breaking point, when it seems like things are topsy-turvy. No one, at any point, has everything under control, even on their best form. Peace of mind or calm, is a state that involves an awareness of our abilities, the circumstances surrounding us, and the choice to find rest in something greater than ourselves.
3 You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You. 4 Trust in the Lord forever, For in Yahweh, the Lord is everlasting strength (Isaiah 26).
Perfect peace is a promise to those who take their minds off themselves and put their trust not in their abilities or circumstances, but in The Lord God. When we relinquish control, we admit we don’t have it all figured out. We accept our ineptitude in the limited knowledge we have of the outcome (Proverbs 3: 5-6). How debilitating that might be for those who always want to be one step ahead. What does perfect peace feel like? Contentment, satisfaction and confidence that however the cookie crumbles, we are in good company. God isn’t limited by time or space, and He knows the beginning from the end (Isaiah 41:6-8). After we have done what we can humanly do, we can leave the rest at His feet, and walk out with peace.
“No one at any point has everything under control, even on their best form.”
Have you not known? Have you not heard? The everlasting God, the LORD, The Creator of the ends of the earth, neither faints nor is weary. His understanding is unsearchable. 29 He gives power to the weak, and to those who have no might He increases strength. 30 Even the youths shall faint and be weary. And the young men shall utterly fall, 31 But those who wait on the LORD, shall renew their strength; They shall mount up with wings like eagles. They shall run and not be weary, They shall walk and not faint (Isaiah 40).
Being at peace with uncertainty, would require that we play our part well. We stay focused, realizing that we can lose ground in other areas. If we become fixated on shifting grounds, we will fail in those areas we can control. Waiting on God is critical to keeping us at peace.
Prayer, is the call for help and waiting, is the stillness needed to gain His strength. Stillness is silencing those inner grumbling thoughts. He gives strength to those who have reached the end of their rope. Prove Him by not staying down! Keep walking and don’t faint, run if you must to the accomplish the next thing. Mount up on the your best God-given abilities and don’t look back. We will need to shift gears and do the next thing (Philipians 3:13). I’m certain there’s other things we can find to do, or make ourselves useful in. There are also others depending on us to move on, and be present. Consider that we can only physically, be in one place-at one time. So, why not train our minds the same?
“Praying with thanksgiving is praying with expectancy.”
6 Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; 7 and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus (Philipians 4).
If we are to live each day striving for peace within, then we have to pray. We don’t have to understand everything, but we can choose not to sweat the unknown. Anxiety is normal, but it must be contained before it takes us hostage. Our mind can wander into all sorts of scenarios and what-ifs, but that is all it is, in our mind. How much chaos could we create if we could give life to our thoughts?
Pray with thanksgiving, because you have higher expectations of God than yourself. Praying with thanksgiving is praying with expectancy. Answers may or may not come as we would like, but the important thing is we did accept those terms, in exchange for perfect peace.
27 Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid (John 14:27).
The Lord Jesus promises peace that only He can give. He says he has already left it for us. The peace that the world offers is fleeting. It’s peace is found in short-lived pleasures, and self gratification. The peace of Christ is one that can be tapped into, at all times, regardless of what we face. We pray for it in order to receive it. Once we have offered the plea for help, we are to cast out fear and anxiety, by trusting that He gives us the perfect peace. We can’t have it both ways, either have the peace of God, or have the peace of the world.
“We do have a better hope and motivation to get up and go.”
33 “These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world (John 16:33).”
Christians as much as others are not immune to troubles. As long as we live in an imperfect world, with imperfect people as ourselves, we can be rest assured that we have no control of our circumstances. We do have a better hope and motivation to get up and go. We believe things work out for our good, and that God has us where He needs us. We can do the next good thing, we can try to be present, and also find an opportunity to help someone else. We are witnesses of God’s unfailing love in the midst of the most trying times.
Oh, that we would come to the Prince of Peace with our hands stretched out, and plead for mercy! Instead of grumbling and shaking our fists, we can come like children to our loving Father and lay it at His feet. What better options do we have left, besides ourselves and the world? He has never failed. Look around you and see that all of creation is under His orders. How much more control can our loving Father have, over all the chaos within us? We cry, “Lord I humble myself under Your Mighty Hand, let me not be put to shame!”
4 I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears. 5 They looked to Him and were radiant, and their faces were not ashamed. 6 This poor man cried out, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles. 7 The angel of the LORD encamps all around those who fear Him, and delivers them. 8 Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good; Blessed is the man who trusts in Him! 9 Oh, fear the LORD, you His saints. There is no want to those who fear Him (Psalm 34).
Recent Comments