The Shalom PathSample

Shalom is much more than a greeting of peace:

Shalom: The Epitome of the Hebrew Concept of Health

The entire purpose and grand goal of God healing His people is to bring them to a state of shalom. Wherein healing is needed for the journey, shalom is the destination. When God makes sick people well, He also gives them rest. We all know about the proverbial grumpy relative who is only doleful and agreeable when sick. Then after they recover, they go back to being grumpy. While families may joke about this trait or “wellness barometer,” it isn’t the mark of true restoration to shalom. God wants to do more; He wants to truly bring people all the way home to a relationship with Himself minus the grumpiness.

In some instances, God disrupted people’s lives to bring them back from the road of ruin and to put them at peace again. Shalom has been described as “a state of well-being in which nothing essential is lacking.” This shalom means one has ample resources and the heart/soul/mind/body are in harmony. Surely God is present in that situation.

Shalom is an abstract noun. Its general definition, according to The New Brown-Driver-Briggs Hebrew and English Lexicon (1979) BDB, is “completeness,” “soundness,” “welfare” and “peace.” BDB goes on to define the word with six subdivisions to more fully explain its meaning.

1. Shalom is Completeness

As mentioned, first, shalom means “completeness” similar to the peace and rest we experience when a task has just been completed and completed well. I was a teenager when I was helping a friend of mine finish building his home. He had cut and milled the lumber off his property and built a five-bedroom, three-bath house in his forest. He was so gratified to tell me that upon completion of the home and moving in, he was overwhelmed with peace and gratitude. Dinner was done and with all five kids in bed, he sat by the big bay window with his wife, looked out over the forest, and thanked God in such a way that the sentiment still lives with him now. His home was completed.

Newlyweds experience and attest to the shalom of completeness on the first morning of their honeymoon. The stress of preparing for the wedding is past, and they are in complete bliss and hopeful for the future.

Parents resting during the first evening with a newborn feel the shalom of completeness. It’s a joy that could be described as delicious. The wait of the pregnancy and the turmoil of labor is over. God’s family has grown.

These experiences point toward the ultimate shalom or completeness that we will feel when we are with Christ as mentioned in I John 3:2.

Prayer: Heavenly Father, may the completeness that You experience within the Godhead be something I learn to sense and feel. Help me to note the milestones of completeness in my life and see Your hand working in it to bring me shalom.