Living in Daily Peace

By Samantha Rodriguez

“You will keep in perfect peace  those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.” Isaiah 26:3 (NIV)

In today’s key Scripture, we find ourselves in Isaiah 26, where Isaiah shares the Israelites’ song of thanksgiving for God’s redemption and protection. Within the song, they repeatedly mention God’s faithfulness and our responsibility to trust Him because of His faithfulness. This trust is all-encompassing, though, in which we keep our minds steadfast on the Lord—meaning our minds lean and rest entirely on Him. 

Take a second, and think about sitting on a chair. Perhaps you’re sitting down right now! When you sit on a chair, you let your entire body rest as you lean on it. You don’t hold back because you’re trusting the chair will support you. If a chair fails you, it most likely will result in a painful and humiliating, but also comical, experience. Perhaps the chair wasn’t as sturdy as it seemed, or someone decided to play a prank, or termites got the best of it. Regardless, it’s evident that we often blindly trust chairs to properly support us when they can easily fail us. When it comes to trusting God, though, we can keep our minds steadfast on the Lord because He never has and never will fail us! The kind of trust we often have sitting in a chair should be the kind of all-encompassing trust we have in God! 

Then why is it so hard to do that sometimes? Because we’re only human! We’re flawed and naturally desire to be in a state of control rather than in surrender, yet our Father still grants us grace. When it seems impossible to surrender, He reminds us of His faithfulness. 

When the Israelites sang, they remembered the character and identity of God as the Everlasting Rock and the Upright One (Isaiah 26:4,7). Upon hearing the news she would bear the Son of God and promised Messiah, Mary certainly felt shocked and hesitant, but the angel Gabriel reassured her by saying it would be by the power of the Most High and that nothing would be impossible with God (Luke 1:35,37). When Joseph considered divorcing Mary quietly because of her pregnancy, an angel appeared to him in a dream testifying her pregnancy was a work of the Holy Spirit and the will of God (Matthew 1:19-21). When we can fix our eyes on Jesus, our Prince of Peace, we can finally embrace His gift of peace! 

As we enter the Christmas season, it can feel as if there is pressure to be extra joyful or peaceful. Although it’s important to embrace joy and peace as we celebrate our Savior’s birth, it’s also just as vital to remember that the celebration of Christ at Christmas is not bound to the month of December! We are to live in daily peace which requires us to surrender and trust in the Prince of Peace! If we only remember, celebrate, and honor Jesus on His birthday, then we’re missing the point and the promise. 

In Romans, Paul shares it another way, saying, “The mind governed by the flesh is death, but the mind governed by the Spirit is life and peace” (Romans 8:6 NIV). The same passage that describes Jesus as the Prince of Peace also claims the “government will be on his shoulders” (Isaiah 9:6 NIV). Though Isaiah was prophesying Jesus’ future eternal rule over all the nations, we can also relate this to our hearts. We must allow the Holy Spirit, the same Spirit who dwelled in our Savior and raised Him from the dead, to govern our minds and keep them steadfast on Christ. Only then will we be able to live our lives in His everlasting peace!