Perfect Peace?

Perfect Peace?

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Trust in the LORD always, for the LORD GOD is the eternal Rock.

Isaiah 26:3-4

Perhaps you’ve heard about a king who was building a new palace and wanted his main entrance hall to be decorated with a large painting. Because he saw his kingdom as a peaceful land, the king decided that the painting best representing peace would win the honored place.

Naturally, hundreds of paintings were submitted for consideration, and the king spent the next few months eliminating all but the best two. Before announcing the winner, he hung both paintings in the palace for public viewing.

The first painting was of an undoubtedly peaceful scene. It featured a majestic mountain lake so perfectly still that the landscape behind it was mirrored in its reflection. The sky, too, was idyllic: brilliant blue, with fluffy clouds floating above. Around the lake were beautiful wildflowers and a calmly grazing family of deer in the distance.

The second painting also portrayed a mountain scene, but of a dramatically different character. It featured a cliff, rugged and strong. A few small trees grew out of the cracks in the face of the cliff, with gnarled roots clinging for life. A waterfall crashed violently down the cliff and into the misty abyss. The clouds looming over this landscape were dark and ominous, and in the distance lightning flashed. Halfway up the cliff grew a small bush. In its branches, a bird sat in a nest, warming her eggs.

After several weeks, the king declared the second painting the winner. Surprised, the people asked the king to explain his decision. He said, “Peace is not the absence of conflict. Peace is a state of mind. Those who experience peace have clarity and calm even when turmoil surrounds them.”

So how about the two of you? Which painting would you have chosen? What is your vision of a peaceful life? You’ve probably heard of the political doctrine of achieving “peace through strength.” But for God followers, it’s the other way around: strength through peace. When you are feeling your weakest, when you are broken and frail, God promises to keep you in “perfect peace” when your mind is focused on him. Why? Because as the prophet Isaiah said, God is the Rock eternal. God is your strength.

In what specific ways do you need God to be your strength this week? What about your spouse? Pray for each other to “trust in the LORD always.”

Peace is not something you wish for; it’s something you make, something you do, something you are, and something you give away!

—Robert Fulghum