A beloved friend called me and started crying when she asked me for counsel and to pray about a certain situation that made her sad and I believe somewhat afraid. We talked. I prayed. The next day, we spoke again. I gave her some encouragement. We prayed again best I recall. The next day, she left me a telephone message with some good news about something and an update concerning the situation that she had been so upset about.
“God knows,” she said on my voicemail. “I have peace.”
Perhaps you assume she was calm, content, and peaceful now because the situation that had been so upsetting to her had been resolved. And that everything had turned out well and to her liking. Oh, but not so!
In fact, nothing whatsoever had changed in the circumstances of the situation. There was no resolution neither even a bit of indication that there would be. But my friend’s heart had changed.
See, she had prayed and put her trust in God. The reason she said, “God knows,” is because she had faith God’s will was best and that He would bring to pass whatever He desired when He desired.
The reason she said, “I have peace,” is because her heart and mind were on God her heavenly Father whom she knew would take care of the situation in the very best way.
Her peace was not conditional and contingent on the situation nor on anything in this world. Her peace was in, through, and from the Lord!
I was humbled by all this because I have so often handled things so very differently. With my eyes on my circumstances not on God. With my trust in me and others not in the Lord. With my eyes fixed on everything going on in my life and in this world not on Jesus. And I have so often as a result been anything but peaceful. Stressed, scared, discouraged and downhearted etc. yes. But not in any way at peace.
God is teaching me day by day to put my trust in Him and to know the peace that only comes in and through and by Jesus.
Maybe you, too, need to learn to fix your eyes upon the Lord and the Bible, to entrust your cares and concerns to the Lord, to put your faith and trust in Him, and to experience God’s peace no matter what lies before you.
I rarely keep anything people send me in the mail. But another beloved friend had sent me a card upon which she had handwritten a Bible verse. I decided to set it right by my computer as an ongoing reminder of the truth of it. May you be blessed in reading this message and seeing this verse. And may the Lord be glorified!
Oh, let us set and fix our eyes upon the Lord and trust in Him, AMEN!
“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.” Isaiah 26:3-4 NKJV