Is Perfect Peace Possible?
This is a hard one, I know. And it is something everyone of us craves.
Peace.
But before we eat of this fruit, let's check the ingredients.
Peace is not calm.
Peace is not quiet.
These are environmental responses that can potentially occur when at peace, but they are not peace.
A disquieted spirit can rage in a quiet place.
A chaotic mind can run rampant in calm spaces.
Modern spirituality may sooth the savage beast, but does it give rest to the soul?
Does it protect your heart and mind?
It is poisoning your anxious thoughts or feeding your fear?
Whatever this fruit, this version of peace that society keeps trying to feed us is, one thing is for sure.... it's not peace. For if it were, why are our minds still racing 100 miles an hour? Why do we not sleep well? Why are the news, commentaries, and circumstances of our times so successful at keeping us in a warring mindset?
Why do we label breaks from social media (something we obviously enjoy) detox?
Where is the peace in this poisonous fruit?
This "peace propaganda" come in many forms.
Ask yourself... How many times in a day do you say or think a what if scenario as justification to not move forward? We label this thought process as wisdom, being prepared, strategic thinking.
How's that strategy working for ya?
The Pearl of Peace
Open the gates, that the righteous nation which [faithfully] keeps the truth may enter in. You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You. ~Isaiah 26:2-3, New King James Version
Isaiah 26 is called "The Song of a City", representing the city of Judah's heighten worship in celebration of God's absolute protection. Judah was a city taken captive by the chaos of a conquering spirit. Embracing what it took to dwell in peace was an exercise in safety but also sanity.
Regardless of their captivity, it was being captivated by the God of their salvation that kept them in perfect peace.
A different strategy for a different kind of peace.
If your thoughts are stayed on God, you will have perfect peace: our misery comes from stray, vagabond, unsettled thoughts. If you will think of nothing except in connection with God, if you will only think of your sin in connection with a merciful God, if you will only think of tribulation in connection with a faithful God, if you will set the Lord always before you, so that he is at your right hand, you shall not be moved; but you certainly cannot be perfectly at peace till each thought, being held captive, learns to stay itself on Him.
~C. H. Spurgeon :: The Song of a City, and the Pearl of Peace
Would would happen if,
just for one day,
we responded to every crippling "what if",
every negative thought,
every anxious moment,
every despairing doubt,
every unsettling situation our minds can ascertain
with a simple reminder about the goodness of God to you.
Think only of our sin in connection to His mercy and forgiveness.
React to every tribulation with a remembrance of His faithfulness.
Ask Him at the first sign of uncertainty to be the cloud that goes before us and the fire at our backs protecting us.
Keep our minds stayed on Thee.
Refute every lie of the enemy about us and our circumstances with His truth.
What's the worst that can happen?
We actually start to keep our mind "stayed on Thee"?
If this is what I have to do to get the perfect peace I want, I'm willing to try.
Join me.
PHILLIPA WILLIAMS
AUTHOR | BLOGGER | MINISTRY COACH
