Reading With the People of God #8 PeaceMuestra

Isaiah 26:3

You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.

Peace is a fleeting thing in this life. Every day, we are faced with events and circumstances that attack the very notion that everything is right. Peace is here one moment and gone the next. It feels neither perfect nor durable. And even if you manage to grab some semblance of peace for a short time, there is the looming reality that peace in this life is finite because life itself is finite. Death is coming for all of us. How, then, can we ever have perfect peace?

To understand what the Prophet Isaiah is saying in 26:3, you must go back to chapter 25, verses 8 and 9: “He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken. It will be said on that day, 'Behold, this is our God; we have waited for him, that he might save us'.”(Isa. 25:8-9).

THE PERFECT PEACE ISAIAH IS TALKING ABOUT COMES FROM OUTSIDE YOURSELF.

The perfect peace Isaiah is talking about comes from outside yourself. It comes from hearing the promise that God has swallowed up death, taken away all your sins, and saved you. It is a gospel peace. It is a gift given to you. This peace does hide itself when life is hard or when temptation wins. This peace has promised never to leave nor forsake you. This peace is a person. This peace was born in Bethlehem. This peace is Jesus Christ, the perfect one, and your perfect peace.

Heavenly Father, thank you for the peace that comes only from the work of your Son and help me to trust in all that you have promised me in him. Amen.