God’s perfect peace remains.
God’s perfect peace.
How do we obtain it? Is there a formula? Is it ours to keep or does it ebb and flow according to our mood? Our attitude?
I think about God’s peace often. I cherish it and desire its eternal presence. When my world fell apart and my heart broke into a million silvery shards, I longed for His peace. My survival depended upon it.
And then, as I pressed into my Heavenly Father, I began to gain understanding.
One troubling morning, I discovered the following passage from one of my favorite devotionals, Streams in the Desert by L.E. Cowman:
There is a part of the sea known as ‘the cushion of the sea.’ It lies beneath the surface that is agitated by storms and churned by the wind. It is so deep that it is a part of the sea that is never stirred. When the ocean floor in these deep places is dredged of the remains of plant or animal life, it reveals evidence of having remained completely undisturbed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years.
The peace of God is an eternal calm like the cushion of the sea. It lies so deeply within the human heart that no external difficulty or disturbance can reach it. And anyone who enters the presence of God becomes a partaker of that undisturbed and undisturbable calm. ~ Arthur Tappan Pierson
Isn’t that powerful?
I’m realizing that not only is the peace of God in me, but the God of peace is with me. His peace is mine. His peace is yours. Not as the world gives, but as our Father in heaven gives.
Perfect peace.
Complete peace.
Freely given is His peace “lying so deeply within the human heart that no external difficulty or disturbance can reach it.”
And His peace remains for the child of God, a deep cistern of calm in the midst of the fiercest storm.
Seek His Presence daily through prayer, praise, and reading of the Word.
When we seek Him, we will find Him. And when we find Him, we will find His peace that passes all understanding.
As I read your post, the following verses came to mind from Isaiah 26:
You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the Lord forever,
For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.
I love the idea of a mind that stays on God. Abiding in His Words. Meditating on His character as protector, provider, refuge, strength for the weak… When we begin to walk in the Lord, it’s harder, and we’re easily moved. But time and time again, we experience His faithfulness, we realize He’s always been faithful and always led us through each and every storm. So why should this one be any different?
But one of the lessons of this powerful image you have shared is that in order to get to that place of perfect stillness, where you can no longer be moved by circumstances, you need *depth*. And for depth to be reached, in my personal experience, affliction is needed. The Cross is needed. We need to embrace the Cross, because after we accept dying to our old selves, we experience resurrection and the peace Jesus was talking about can be a reality.
May the Lord bless you and keep you in perfect peace, at all times, whatever circumstances you may experience.