Perfect Peace

Good Morning!

Isaiah 26:2-4 New International Version (NIV)

2 Open the gates
that the righteous nation may enter,
the nation that keeps faith.
3 You will keep in perfect peace
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
4 Trust in the LORD forever,
for the LORD, the LORD himself, is the Rock eternal.

This passage begins with an entreaty to the nation of Judah … but I think it can apply to us. However I am concerned that our nation has turned away from God. And I believe we are seeing the beginnings of the impact of an unrighteous nation gathering the fruit from the seed it has sown. I am not talking about natural disasters such as hurricanes and earthquakes, flood and famine. I am talking about a people who care only for self. The fruit we harvest is greed, pride, jealousy, perversion, and hatred. These are not the fruits of God but of man.

But listen to Isaiah:

“You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in You.”

As bad as it gets, God is still as good as He promised. If we place our faith in any other one than God, we are destined to see trouble and loss. We must keep our trust in God … so we can have peace.

Lucille – the dear lady who kept me from the age of five to seven – once observed that I was wearing the same clothes from the day before. I guess it was pretty easy to spot since the clothes were probably pretty dirty. So she asked me why I put on dirty clothes. My response was “all I want is peace”. She asked what I had said … and I responded that wanted peace. A third time she asked and I said “Lucille, don’t you know what peace is?” I did end up in clean clothes … and at peace.

God gives us perfect peace. What is that? Well, often what we think is peace is really only a respite from trouble. But God’s perfect peace is peace during trouble and regardless of the trouble. So while it may seem that all of our world is crumbling around us, we can have a spirit of peace.

Our peace comes from our trust in the Lord who is the strong Rock of our faith. We can cling to that Rock in the midst of our life storm because it will never budge. God provides the protection we need to weather the storm.

Well, the weekend is here. Enjoy your time of rest … and peace.

Agape’


Mr. Jim