No God, No Peace. Know God, Know Peace.

          People from the beginning of time have been looking for peace.  Remember how, in Bible days, they always greeted one another with "Peace be unto you and your house?” You and I are no different.  You and I are looking for peace, too. Peace of mind.  Peace of heart.  Peace of God.

            We're looking, because whether or not we want to admit it, we need this peace—especially this peace of God.   It's hard to acknowledge this need sometimes, particularly when we^’re young (and I'm not sure I mean this just in age.  Experience and vision have a lot to do with it too).  Too often we fail to listen to the inner longings of our soul. Many times, it’s because we're so busy dealing with all our surface needs and demands.  Other times it's because we do not want to be dependent on anyone or anything—even God.  Whatever the reason, we neglect that inner calling much too many times.

            When I was younger, we used to sing a song, "I've got the Peace that passeth understanding down in my heart."  Remember it? Have you ever thought about the words? Do you know what they mean, that peace that passeth understanding?  For the longest time I didn't.  All I knew was that it was a tongue-twister line and we usually ended up laughing through the verse.  How could something so good be beyond understanding? For the implication is that this peace is good, is it not? Well, I didn't really know.  And at the moment, I didn't want to bother trying to figure it all out.

            About the same time I was singing that song with all my friends, my parents gave me a Bible for my birthday.  Each wrote a text in the front—one they thought would offer a lifetime of comfort and strength.  My mother wrote Isaiah 26:3:  "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusteth in Thee."  The Living Bible puts it this way:  "He will keep in peace all those who trust in Him, whose thoughts turn often to the Lord."

            I've never forgotten that verse.  Again, I wasn't sure then just what was so important about that promise.  I was young, un­touched by, and unconcerned about, the chaos and turmoil that is often life.  But I learned the verse anyway.  And now I know.  I know what that peace can mean in a hectic and fractured life. And I know, too, why that peace—if you have it—passes all understanding.   It cannot be defined. Neither the need nor the solu­tion.  It's just something that is.

            No God.  No peace.  Know God.  Know peace.  It's not only that simple, it's that important.  Unfortunately, it's also that easy a thing to ignore.  C.S. Lewis has a chapter in his book Mere Christianity which he calls "The Shocking Alter­native."  In it, he says that there is no possibility for happiness and peace of mind, heart, and soul without God because we were designed to run on God.  “It’s just no good” to try to find it without God in your life he says.  I have often used that essay in writing classes as an example of not only excellent technical writing, but also persuasive writing.  I like to read it out loud because without fail, when we finish hearing that essay, if we didn’t believe before, we unequivocally do then.  I love seeing the recognition in people’s eyes when we get to the end of that essay and hearing them say, "Yes!  That's it!  There is nothing more to say!  I get it now!”

            Remember this.  No God.  No peace.  Without Him in our lives, there is absolutely no possibility for peace.  No possibil­ity for openness and acceptance.  No possibility for inspiration or joy from God, others, or creation.  None.  We were not created that way.  The philosopher Aristotle wrote that "my soul is restless until it rests in God." And Hans Christian Anderson thought that "In every human life, whether poor or great, there is an invisible thread that shows we belong to God."

            Unless we have personally invited Christ into our life, unless we have spent time with Him—personal time—time that is apart from the corporate worship and study provided by the institu­tions, we will not know that peace beyond all understanding.  There are countless promises in the Bible which tell us "He will give His people strength.  He will bless them with peace" (Psalm 29:11).  And Jesus told His disciples—and, vicariously, us too—"I am leaving you with a gift--peace of mind and heart!  And the peace I give isn't fragile like the peace the world gives.  So don't be troubled or afraid" (John 14:27).  But it can't be ours unless we believe, and make it ours.

            Know God.  Know peace.  It's that simple.  And that solitary. But once the invitation goes out, once the invitation is accepted, once the house is cleaned and ready for the guest, once He appears on the doorstep to our heart, once we feel His presence, once we KNOW PEACE, there is no loneliness, no coldness, no emptiness, no need for other things to fill that void.

            Know God? Know peace. A peace that passes all understanding. A peace that is for now.  And for eternity.  It takes time, and, the Psalmist says, it is even work.  "Work hard at it," he says. But if you know relationships, you know that the time invested is not only worthwhile but necessary.  And there comes a point where we cannot manage without.  Then, all our activities and priorities revolve around that relationship.  That's how it must be with us and God.  That's when we know not only God, but peace, a peace beyond all else we have ever known.

            May the God of peace give you the courage to take Him into you Heart today and keep Him.  May the God of peace find rest in your soul.  And you in His.