You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you,
because he trusts in you. – Isaiah 26:3
Isn’t it true that when you and I think of peace, we usually connect it with things that help make us feel safe and secure? Like having enough money, enough food, enough clothing, good health, a loving family, reliable friends, etc? We instinctively relate “peace” with ideal circumstances, or at the very least, the absence of trouble.
But the “perfect peace” Isaiah talks about has nothing to do with a problem-free life. Notice that he didn’t say, “He whose mind is stayed on you will never experience hardship or suffering.”
I think about all the suffering that Paul endured during his ministry in the early church. He was imprisoned, beaten, shipwrecked, and suffered hardship after hardship. And in the end, his love for Christ cost him his life.
And yet he joyfully writes in Philippians 4:7:
The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
So how can a person experience perfect peace while enduring hardship and trouble?
Through Jesus. By fixing our minds on Christ. By remembering all the suffering He endured for us on the cross of Calvary. By remembering His promise that someday He will return and take us to our true and perfect home to spend eternity with Him.
Perfect peace isn’t the absence of suffering. It is faithfully entrusting our Father in Heaven in the midst of it.
One of the things I miss most about my childhood home back in rural Kentucky was how quiet it was there. Our nearest neighbor was nearly a half mile away, and we rarely heard cars driving by our house more than two or three times a day. There was a small creek running alongside our property and you could hear the water gently flowing over the rocks. I spent many summer afternoons just sitting on the porch, listening to owls and the birds, and enjoying the tranquility of where we lived.
Do you ever think about how peaceful heaven will be? I sure do.
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