HOW TO HAVE PEACE IN THE CHAOS
Well. Here we are. Nestled in the middle of the first month of the new year, happy and content 2020 fades behind us. Finally. We’ve arrived in the year designated to usher in a return to normal. To sanity. To peace. But, from appearances, 2021 did not get the memo. For we still move about masked and social distancing. Still await our vaccines. Still suffer the loss of friends and family to a morphing disease. Still stomping down political fear and tension. We had all agreed. “This” was to disappear when the glittering ball splashed down into the first moments of a brand new year. Poof. Buh-bye.
We need “this” to be over. We long to journey through the new year without discord and agitation and distress at our center. To feel at peace. But, we find these continuing struggles attacking the possibility. How is peace possible with all these persisting circumstances still pressing in on us?
Good news. Peace is indeed attainable for the believer. In fact, peace is available this very moment. Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:27 that when He returns to His Father, He will leave His peace with us, which comes through the presence of His Holy Spirit. Remember, one of the fruits we bear, because of the Spirit’s presence in us, is peace. (Galatians 5:22)
God’s peace stands apart from what the world gives or understands. Peace the world offers comes through the absence or avoidance of trouble; from escaping the difficult things. The world does not understand the peace God gives because His peace thrives smack-dab in the middle of trials and trouble.
During one very difficult experience, on one particularly devastating day, I found myself at the ocean’s shore. Tho friends were gathered, their momentary distance and the noise from the crashing waves, left me in a place of needed isolation. And also allowed me to raise my voice and call out to Jesus. Those prayers and concerns soon took the form of praise songs sung over the distant loved ones in crisis. When the intensity of my encounter with God decreased, I walked off the beach cocooned in the peace of His presence. Nothing in the circumstances had changed. No resolution. No promise a painful journey was abated. But the overflowing emotion, the anxiety, the uncertainty all stilled in the calm sea of God’s presence.
God’s peace conquers, overcoming problems and weaknesses. His peace does not run from fear or difficulty; but brings victory in the midst of the chaos.
Our peace in Him exists independent of external circumstances. Therefore, no experience can steal it from us; no sorrow, no danger, no suffering can make our peace diminish.
God’s peace is a mystery even as we experience it. When we find ourselves facing some of life’s most difficult circumstances, inexplicably, we also find a deep calm and assurance holding us. Abiding deep in us. Allowing us to hold together, make decisions, and pass through the waters without drowning. We cannot explain the phenomenon outside of the truth of God’s character and promises. To never leave us. To be with us, and to take up residence in us where He permeates peace.
To experience God’s peace, keeping our focus on Him is crucial. In our peripheral vision we still see and hear the angst of conflict; we are aware of, or indeed experience, disease and sorrow. But those are not our focus. Jesus is. We spend less time reading and hearing news releases and opinions and more time reading the Word and listening to the Spirit. We spend less energy pondering the outcomes of the pandemic and political pandemonium, and more time meditating on His character and promises. We do the things necessary to stay afloat physically, financially and emotionally. But we recognize and do battle to stay alive and alert spiritually. For even if the other three areas of our lives deteriorate before our eyes, our spirit blazes on in wholeness, in total victory, and in triumphant peace.
Photo by Donald Giannatti on Unsplash
