July 17
Perfect Peace
Isaiah 26:3
You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.
We live in a world without peace. With all the chaos confusion and unrest around us, it seems like peace is elusive. We find conflict within and conflict without, but can’t seem to find the peace that we really are looking for. Yet for some reason we’re peaceful. Those of us who know the Lord have a peace that the world doesn’t understand but we know because we know Him.
In Isaiah’s day there was turmoil and unrest all around. Nations were arising to defeat rival nations. Kingdoms were rising and falling, there was not peace. Add to this external conflict a heaven conflict between God and his wayward people. Now stripped of everything and stuck in captivity they could not envision the existence of any sibilance of peace. But thrown into this mix was a song. A song that would “be sung in the land of Judah” (Is 26:1). This melody would be sung when God would “ordain peace” for His people (Is 26:12).
It is this peace that our text speaks of. It is a “perfect peace”. A peace that is unshakable and unending. A peace that calms the spirit and quietens the soul. It is a peace that remains regardless of the situation or circumstances that confront or confound us. It is both an internal and an external peace. It is a perfect peace.
It is a peace that finds its source in the Lord and is sustained by Him. The text states, “You keep”. It is God who initiates and maintains this peace. He is the one who keeps this peace present.
Notice in the text the recipient of this peace. It says this peace emerges when someone has a settled trust in the Lord. This kind of trust establishes a confidence beyond their circumstances. It supersedes their situation and leaves them unshaken in their uncertainty. It leads them to hold onto the Lord when things have gotten a hold of them.
This peace comes from a mind that is “stayed” or fixed on the Lord. Our thoughts, intentions and imaginations can lead our mind “astray” from Him. We become so focused on the problem before us, that we can’t focus our trust on Him. Our mind looks at our situation rather than at the only one who can save us from our situation. Our focus is elsewhere. Our trust is turned toward something or someone else.
But peace doesn’t come to a straying mind, but a staying mind. We must catch our drifting and diverted thoughts and draw them back to Lord. Our only hope for “perfect peace” comes form trusting the Lord in our turmoil. Think on Him and we will trust Him.
Today think on the Lord. Ask Him to help you have a mind that is "stayed " on Him. Thank the Lord for the “perfect peace” that you can have in and through Him.
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