08/26/2017
Do you know the peace of Jesus Christ? When your life is being torn apart by calamity do you find rest and peace in Him? In Christ we find a peace unlike any other; not the carefree blue sky feeling of the trouble free, but the deep and abiding peace given in the midst of chaos. A peace that defies all understanding.
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
John 14:27 ESV
It is easy to be peaceful when all is well. We can achieve this feeling on our own, and although God is there with us, we tend to lean on our own provision, but when hurricanes strike, earthquakes destroy our homes, and death surrounds us, there is no peace that we can provide ourselves, and none that our neighbors can render which will be sufficient. In times like these our own human instinct, and even the voices of our closest friends, chant the mantra of Satan when they say to us the words Job heard...
“Then his wife said to him, "Do you still hold fast your integrity? Curse God and die."”
Job 2:9 ESV
When our intuition tells us all is lost; when the doctors say "no more can be done"; when we stand before the rubble that once was our home or our life, who do we call upon? In those moments of deepest sorrow, our greatest pain, our most complete loss, how do we find peace in that moment? We find it in God alone.
“And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 4:7 ESV
When I was a teenage boy a miracle happened in my life, I was swimming with the boy scouts and while swimming from a floating platform in the middle of a lake to the shore where our camp was, I ran out of steam and sank beneath the water... I was drowning. As I thrashed towards the bottom an incredible peace came over me... it was the peace that comes from total abandonment to God. I can't describe it fully but what I can say is this... it is truly beyond all understanding and fills you like water fills a sponge; it lifts you up and removes all fear, pain, and worry... it takes away the care for the world and fills you with God's contentment, joy, and the understanding that you are in Him. There is nothing in this world that can conquer or compare to God's peace.
That was the miracle I felt, but a second miracle occurred that day. I heard a voice say "Stand up! Stand up!", and even though I didn't want to, or could see the point in it, I put my feet down and they felt the cold mud of the lake bottom, and when I stood up my head broke the surface and I gasped in lungs full of air. I had been transported from far off in the lake to being mere feet from the bank, and there was no water in my lungs. Staggering out in disbelief I fell face down on the ground.
God's peace can fill us when no comfort in this world can. He doesn't depend on our view of reality or the limitations we see before us. This is what Jesus spoke of in John 14:27, and although it sometimes comes to us without our asking, it comes more often when we call out for it, and give all up to Him in exchange for it. Perhaps you will feel it as you stand in front of the debris left of your life, or at a hospital bed with a dying child, or under a bridge when you have no other place to seek shelter... wherever you are, or whatever calamity has befallen you, He can find you there, and He can quiet your fears and still your suffering. But, you can also feel it every day if you give yourself completely to Him, and ask.
“And let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, to which indeed you were called in one body. And be thankful.”
Colossians 3:15 ESV
Have you ever been walking down a city street and passed a homeless beggar only to hear them reciting a scripture as you pass by? That verse that they say over and over again might seem meaningless to you, but it is their key to a place that many wealthy men would trade fortunes for... it is the key that unlocks hope, and grants them passage to God's peace. Many of us place our hope in possessions, and our fulfillment in the praise of those around us, but none of that matters compared to the peace of Christ in the next breath of faith that we take, or the comfort of one more meal at the soup kitchen with the one verse of scriptural hope on our lips. God's peace overcomes all else, and is available to each of us.
There will be people who recover from tragedy; they rebuild their lives, homes, and regain their health, but if they have experienced the peace of Christ when all they had left to call on was Him... then they long to lose those things again.
Some will never regain the life they once had. They will sleep wherever they can find shelter, take meals from the goodness of their neighbor, and limp down the street in pain with a verse of scripture as their only defense against their suffering... but for those of them who felt the peace of Christ as all was being ripped from them none of that matters and was a price worth paying.
There will also be those who find the peace of God at the altar on Sunday, on quiet walks as they stroll along, or in their prayer closet as they seek Him. Receiving the peace of God doesn't require that our lives fall apart... just the baring of ourselves to Him in total submission. When calamity strikes it scrapes the self confidence from us and makes the raw flesh beneath more susceptible to His touch, but that isn't always necessary.
However we experience God's peace, once it has been entered into us the peace of Jesus will give us insight into the conflict that the Apostle Paul felt when he said these words to the church in Philippi:
“I am hard pressed between the two. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, for that is far better. But to remain in the flesh is more necessary on your account.”
Philippians 1:23-24 ESV
God's peace beckons to those who have experienced it and it calls to them always. Its sweet perfume reached out to Paul and it calls to us too, but like Paul we realize that our job here is not done, and it serves us by strengthening us when we feel weak, and encourages us in the face of fear. Every one of the twelve Apostles except John was martyred in some horrific manner, but none were conquered by the experience because the peace of Jesus Christ filled them always... does it fill you?
“Now may the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times in every way. The Lord be with you all.”
2 Thessalonians 3:16 ESV
Prayer:
Father, I thank you for your peace that fills me. I thank you for the peace of Jesus Christ which you have imparted to us, and the comfort of the Holy Spirit. I come to you in the good times Father with praise upon my lips and seek your peace. I come to you Father when my life is in disarray and ask you to infuse me with your peace. I shout to you over the raging storms of disaster and death Father, pleading for your peace, and I fall to my knees when your peace overcomes me at times when I least expect it. You are merciful beyond compare and your peace and joy sustain me when all around me shout "curse God and die!" Holy Father I find myself in you, and in you all peace and joy abounds. Never let me be wooed by my own ability to calm myself, or provide myself with joy. Be with me always Lord, and when the time comes to call me home, I will revel in finding your peace multiplied in its fullness once more and praise your name in joy always.
Rich Forbes