Treasuring the Peace of Christ

Peace.

Where can we find peace, especially in this holiday season when there is so much going on, so much chaos, so many demands? We sometimes feel as if we are doing battle. Maybe we even feel like we are in a war zone. These days, we hear about war often. In the Ukraine, in Israel, in Myanmar, in Haiti—there is so much conflict in our broken world. Peace seems a distant dream.

Although the battles in our lives may not include missiles and bombs, we encounter life-threatening and debilitating diseases and illnesses, cancers, horrendous accidents bending our lives in untoward directions, bone-crushing poverty and unfair deficiencies, untimely bereavement, heinous crimes, unpredictable and destructive weather events, and natural disasters, bullets fired at random, undeserved abuse, unjust discrimination, bondage, suffering, debilitating agonizing pain, unreasonable demands. We face situations that feel like what the children of Israel faced. The impenetrable Red Sea ahead, the army of an angry Pharoah behind, racing after us. No way out. No escape. No relief. No peace. Only fear and anxiety and conflict and weariness.

In our agony, we cry out to God. God, help me.

And He does. He makes a way where there seems no way. He is not restricted by the impossible. He parts the sea. Confounds and destroys the enemy. Over and over, God delivers his people. The Bible is filled with redemption and restoration. Jonah, Daniel, David, Paul. God is the same yesterday, today, forever. What He has done, He can and will do again. Heal. Provide. Set free. Protect. Deliver. We accept the truth of what Moses said.

“The Lord will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.” Ah, peace we can hold on to.

We treasure this truth that we find in God’s Word. God’s overwhelming love draws us to Himself, to a place of calm and peace even in the midst of chaos. We rest in God. His peace is beyond our understanding. We cannot anticipate what God will do. We cannot fathom how things will be resolved. We trust that whatever God does is for our best, for our good. We treasure this truth in our hearts, just as Mary did so long ago. We may not understand, but we know God is with us. God is for us. God is working all things out. For us.

We are at peace.

Prayer

Thank you for the treasure of your Word that draws us close to You. Thank you for your vast and deeply satisfying love. Thank you for fighting our battles for us and caring for the details of our lives. Thank you for your perfect peace. Amen.

Esther Gillie, Ph.D., D.Min. serves as dean of the University Library at Regent University.