Those who love your
law have great peace and nothing causes them to stumble.
Can anyone deny that peace is the most sought after experience in the world yet the most elusive experience in the world? One of the strongest drives known to humanity is the desire for peace in the inner being. What this peace is in each of our minds, and what we consider to bring peace, has been either the making or undoing of peace in our lives.
Can anyone deny that peace is the most sought after experience in the world yet the most elusive experience in the world? One of the strongest drives known to humanity is the desire for peace in the inner being. What this peace is in each of our minds, and what we consider to bring peace, has been either the making or undoing of peace in our lives.
If peace has to do with place, possessions and pleasure, it will set a
course with no end because it never adds up to enough. It is a
bottomless pit of, by any means, "more!" This path leads to
further dissatisfaction, bringing harm inwardly and outwardly. A person
not at peace within will be a person never at peace with anyone. People
become objects who are seen as obstacles or as a means to an
end. It leads to no end of abominations, addictions, and abuse.
Peace,
in its purest form, is the knowledge that, no matter
anything else, all is well within. The "within" has
to do with who we are creatively, relationally and eternally. This
is meaning in the deepest sense. It is the knowledge that we are
made by God, we are made for God, and we walk with God both now and
eternally. True peace is to be aligned with God--His being and His
ways. This is what the Psalmist recognizes when he says, "Those
who love your law have great peace". With these
individuals he says, "nothing causes them to stumble".
Here there is stability, security and safety, which are not the foundation of
true peace but the result of true peace. If this is flipped, and they
become foundational, we revert back to wrong seeking again. We will
go right back to place, possessions and pleasure as our pursuits. But if
peace is founded on Person, the Person of God, He becomes not only our pursuit,
but our place of refuge, our greatest possession and, joy of joys, "at
His right hand there are pleasures forevermore."
The question to the pursuers of peace, who seek it in everything but God,
is, "How is that working out for you?" Not all men are
honest, but if they were to be truly honest, they would know their emptiness.
The challenge, then, to these people is "Seek peace!" When
nothing fills the hole, "Seek peace!" When nothing heals the
hurt, "Seek peace!" When nothing quenches the thirst,
"Seek peace!" Once that becomes the deep,
honest, desperate pursuit of the soul, people
find God. As long as one settles for fleeting satisfaction
and phony happiness, the odds that they will find God are minimal.
God always shows up when one discovers and declares that they
are at end of their rope. To this one, we urge, "when the world
feeds you more rope, and they will, don't take it. It will hang
you."
A dear saint of God,
facing the loss of her soldier son, went off alone to her quiet
place. When she reappeared to greet all who mourned, she announced to family
and friends, "The rope held." Oh friend, intertwine
yourself with Him. This rope will hold in the storms. This
is the place of great peace! "Nothing causes them to
stumble."
