The Peace of God
Wow, what a semester it’s been so far. It feels like an eternity, but it’s also gone by so incredibly fast. A lot happens in the matter of a few months—sometimes I forget to stop and notice what that is.
For me, the past couple of months have been challenging, busy, and pretty overwhelming. I’ve felt like it’s been one thing after another, and I can hardly catch a break. My to-do list is never-ending, and with every checkmark of one task comes the addition of another. It sometimes feels like a bottomless pit I’ll never reach the end of.
In the midst of it, I’ve let stress, anxiety, and worry get the best of me—to the point of even physical sickness. I’ve let busy circumstances and tasks dictate my mood and steal almost all of my time. But I’ve realized the root of it isn’t the tasks themselves, but it’s my heart and my attitude towards them. I’ve put so much pressure on myself to perform, to maintain a certain GPA, to reach a certain score on the LSAT, and even to look and act a certain way.
I keep saying “God, I trust You with this,” but my attitude doesn’t reflect that at all. It actually reflects one of distrust, self-reliance, and fear. All the while, I’ve been missing out on the incredible promises of God. I’ve missed out on His peace, I’ve rushed past His presence, and I’ve looked to earthly things for security rather than my Heavenly Father.
But He’s been so faithful to slow me down and remind me what it means to trust Him, what it means to walk in His peace, what it means to abide in His presence. It’s something that transcends our circumstances. It’s not dictated by the ebb and flow of our schedules, but it’s steadiness that comes from Him.
“Peace is the subtle confidence knowing God is in control.” I remember hearing that phrase at camp many years ago, and it’s always stuck with me.
Shouldn’t that make us different? Shouldn’t we, as followers of Jesus, walk with a certain lightness, knowing this world has no hold on us? We’ve already won! The end of the story’s been written. What have we to fear? Yet we fight in this constant battle, at times letting the world become too big and our God become too small.
We have to continually reorder our hearts and put Him in His rightful place as King. We live in His kingdom and serve under His authority. All glory, wisdom, power, and strength belong to Him. All things are in His hands. So between the shore and the deep, in the wind and the waves, we can still carry His peace. It can mark our lives and our attitudes in a way that draws us above the cares of this world and allows us to experience the fullness of joy Jesus often talked about.
“Then the Lord will create over all of Mount Zion and over those who assemble there a cloud of smoke by day and a glow of flaming fire by night; over everything the glory will be a canopy. It will be a shelter and shade from the heat of the day, and a refuge and hiding place from the storm and rain.” Isaiah 4:5-5
The cloud of smoke by day and the glowing fire by night, that’s His presence. The shelter, the hiding place, the refuge from the rain, that’s found in Him. But we have to come underneath it and receive it. Oftentimes we stand in the rain and let circumstances and worry overtake us, when God’s calling us to surrender it at His feet.
We’re holding on so tightly to all we can control, but He’s whispering, ‘Let go.’
“Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; therefore He will rise up to show you compassion.” Isaiah 30:18
He rises from the glory of His throne, to kneel down and show you compassion. In the middle of the stress, in the midst of the unknown, when you’re being tossed and turned by the waves, He reaches down and pulls you into His embrace.
“For You have been my help, And in the shadow of Your wings I sing for joy. My soul clings to You; Your right hand upholds me.” Psalm 63:7-8
If you’ve felt at all what I’ve felt this semester, I pray this speaks to you. I pray it encourages you to stop striving and to simply trust. I pray you chase after the heart of God more than you chase after your to-do list. I pray you choose His kingdom first and foremost, and I can promise you, if you do, He’ll take care of everything else.
“And we know that God causes all things to work together for good of those who love Him, who have been called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28
