Peace

Imagine you are in the woods in the winter time.  It is still and quiet.  The lack of noise heightens your senses and you can hear the falling snow hit the earth, like soft breath escaping.  All you see is the dark wood of the trees against the white of the snow and small footprints where animals have been busy during the day, but have long since gone to their homes for the night. It is calm and you are at peace.

I can see this scene so clearly in my mind it is as if it were a memory from my past.  This is what I think of when I think of peace.

This world is so chaotic and some days it feels like I am being bombarded from all sides.  I get knocked down and get up only to be knocked down again.  Do you ever feel that way?  

God has promised us in Psalm 29:11 that He will give strength to his people and will bless them with peace.  Peace that is not of this world but beyond our understanding. Peace that satisfies and calms our exhausted heart and souls.  How do we get this peace?  Isaiah 26:3 says, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you”.  Our peace is shattered when our gaze shifts from God to our circumstances.  We get knocked down and our eyes immediately look to see what hit us.  That’s normal.  That’s O.K.  It is when we keep our gaze on the object of our pain that it becomes a problem.  We lose sight of God and who he is and we lose our peace.  

In high school I was in a music ministry with a young man named Scott.  He was an accomplished concert pianist by the time he was in Jr. High and I was in awe of his concentration when he played one of his pieces.  Scott was so focused and tuned in to the nuances, notes, and phrases of the music, everything around him faded away.  To test this, I would try to distract him and see if I could get him flustered and lose focus.  I couldn’t do it.  I am convinced the building could fall down around us and he would not miss a note or beat as our bodies lay crushed under the debris.  That is the kind of dedicated, building-fall-down-around-me-and-not-lose-sight type of focus I want to have on God.

When the temptation to focus on the darkness, struggle, pain, and uncertainty comes, cling to the Word of God that remind us that He is Light, Provider, Healer, and never changes; good Father, Rock, Promise Keeper.  Darkness, struggles, pain, and uncertainty don’t stand a chance with our Almighty God, even when it seems the building has fallen down around us.

“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times and in every way. The Lord be with all of you.” 2 Thessalonians 3:16

Lisa