The Way Things Ought To Be

God’s peace . . . exceeds anything we can understand.   Philippians 4:7

The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom. Shalom is a common greeting that means “May things be the way they ought to be.” Paul describes God as the “God of peace” (Philippians 4:9). That means everything in God is exactly as it ought to be. There is nothing disordered, out of place, out of control, or out of character in him.

Peace begins by coming into a right relationship with God. Without this foundation, it is impossible to have shalom in your life. That was Adam’s problem when he went into hiding after he disobeyed God’s command in the Garden.

Do you remember playing hide-and-seek as a child—how your heart thumped in your chest when the person who was “it” came near your hiding place? Can you imagine what that was like for Adam when the Lord came looking for him? It must have been his first experience of fear. Shalom was broken, and he was afraid that God would find him. Things were not as they ought to be.

It takes a lot of energy to hide from God. As long as we’re hiding from God, we cannot be at peace with him. That is why God says, “Those who still reject me are like the restless sea, which is never still. . . . There is no peace for the wicked” (Isaiah 57:20-21).

The great invitation of the gospel is to come out of hiding and surrender into the loving arms of God. Christ came into the world to make things as they ought to be between God and you. You do not need to continue fighting an unwinnable war of disobedience against God. You can come out of hiding and be reconciled to him. You can have shalom with God through Jesus Christ.

The starting point of shalom is that things are the way they ought to be between you and God. That happens when you come out of hiding, give up your rebellion against his commands, put your trust in his Son Jesus Christ, and submit to his rule over your life.

For further reading, see Isaiah 57