“Peace, where is peace - for our nations, our homes, and most of all our hearts and minds?” The agonizing cry has echoed down through the ages, but it is heard with increasing crescendo as the world becomes progressively more tempest-tossed and panic-stricken. Is it also the cry of your heart, dear reader? Midst the prevailing discontent and disturbance, do you long for an inward quietness that transcends all else?
The frenzy of speed and sound, the flurry of intense activity, the perpetual change and motion have produced a wild merry-go-round of confusion and chaos. Endless achievements directed at making the world a safer, better place have only made life more complex and complicated. Though we have it easier in many ways than our parents, we are more uneasy. We are wearied, worried people. Beyond question we need direction and counsel, we need security and confidence. We need and want peace of mind.
Peace of mind is one of the greatest treasures man can have. When we cease to live in a state of frustration and anxiety and begin to live in a state of serenity and calmness, we have acquired one of the beautiful gems of happiness. Peace within brings contentment and cheerfulness and is a source of strength to ourselves and others.
Can this treasure actually be found in a world of so much conflict and despair, of so much turmoil and trouble?
The great search is on! Multitudes are seeking peace of mind in fame or fortune, in pleasure or power, in education or marriage. Their heads are crammed with knowledge; their purses are filled with wealth but their souls remain empty. Others are seeking to escape from the realities of life in drugs or alcohol, but the peace they seek eludes them. All their seeking only takes them in a vicious circle of frustration and futility. They are still empty and lonely, still in a troubled world with a troubled mind.
The key to the quest for peace is to be found in these lines: “We would have inward peace but will not look within.” We search among outward and tangible things, but neglect to look within. We are afraid of what we may discover. We would like to blame a troubled world for our troubled mind, but within our hearts is the answer to our dilemma. It is there the cure must begin.
God made man with a living soul which longs to be in fellowship with its Maker. “As the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1,2). Only the living God, the living Christ, and the living Word will satisfy the soul. Be assured-you will never be at peace until you are at peace with God.
Though our souls long for God, our sinful natures rebel at His ways. Part of us yearns for God and part of us reaches for fleshly desires. Our hearts are a battleground of continual conflict. This inner struggle causes tension and excessive strain. We are “like the troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt” (Isaiah 57:20). There can be no peace until all of life, mind, body, and spirit are coordinated by the One who made us and understands us. He is not only master of the world but knows your life and mine from the beginning to the end. He was thinking of us when He came into the world “to give light to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace”(Luke 1:79). As the Prince of Peace, He invites us to come to Him. “Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). When we come to Him, we will find relief and relaxation in the freedom He gives. Our peace will be as a river (Isaiah 48:18)-an active, sparkling peace that is refreshing and strong, a peace that passeth all understanding (Philippians 4:7). Will you come to Him, “Casting you burden upon Him” and hear Him say, “Peace I leave with you...Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” (John 14:27)?
God created man and placed him in a beautiful garden to enjoy perfect peace, joy, and happiness. But when Adam and Eve disobeyed, they were at once stricken with guilt. Where before they had longed for the presence of God, they now hid themselves with shame. Guilt and fear replaced the peace and happiness they knew. Here was the beginning of a troubled world - and a troubled mind.
The Bible tells us that this sin of disobedience is upon us. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6). “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Guilt, fear, irritation, resentment, selfishness, and other hostile impulses plague us wherever we go. They bring weariness and mental exhaustion. How thankful we can be Jesus came into the world not “...to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved” (John 3:17). “For God so loved the world” (John 3:16a). He came that in Him we might have peace (John 16:33).
Self was at the root of the first disobedience of man. It continues to be one of the evil inclinations that takes us down the path of despair and heartache. When we become self-centered in our wants and our ambitions, we become anxious and fretful. The longer we travel the path of self-centeredness, the more troubled we become.
Instead of seeing ourselves as the center of existence, we need to turn to God and make Him our central purpose in life. Without God in the center, every area of our life will reach out from the “hub” like spokes in a wheel and make our life complete and worth living. Only a heart centered in God can be kept steady and peaceful.
The Psalmist declares, “My heart is fixed, O God, my heart is fixed, I will sing and give praise.” With his whole trust in God, he could rejoice in quietness of mind. With our hearts fixed on God we have inward peace in the midst of outward troubles. It is possible to be “troubled on every side, yet not distressed;...perplexed, but not in despair” (2 Corinthians 4:8).
When Jesus said, “If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me” (Matthew 16:24), he invited all men to the most meaningful, life-changing experience. “Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things have passed away; behold, all things are become new” (2 Corinthians 5:17). Will you accept His invitation, “Come unto Me”? He offers light for darkness, trust for doubt, peace for strife, joy for sorrow, rest for weariness, hope for despair, and life for death.
Like our first parents, when we are out of tune with God, fears and anxieties crowd in fast. When we focus our attention on the uncertainties of life, on a changing, decaying world, our security and confidence are shaken. Our peace is disturbed.
Faith and trust are the antidotes for fear and anxiety. How restful it is to trust in the only God who is from everlasting to everlasting, to have a Friend who never changes, whose love never dies. This Friend is ever thinking of us, ever caring for us. So why worry and fret? Learn to do as we read in 1 Peter 5:7, “casting all your care upon him; for He careth for you.” There is peace when the battle is over, so why not surrender your life to the Lord? Remember, if you trust, you don’t worry, and if you worry, you don’t trust. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3).
Resentment is a poison that also robs our peace of mind. It leads to discouragement and hopeless confusion. It is hard to forgive those who have done us an injustice, but we must, if we wish to be forgiven. “But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will you Father forgive your trespasses” (Matthew 6:15). Rid your mind of all resentment and irritation and fill it with love and mercy, if you wish to experience forgiveness and an inner tranquility.
Maybe you feel the heavy load of past sins weighing you down and you feel you have more than you can bear. If so, you are suffering needlessly. “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). As a result you will have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ (Romans 5:1). King David sinned and endured the torture of guilt, but he confessed his sin and gained forgiveness. He let the Great Physician heal him through repentance, confession and forgiveness. In the Twenty-Third Psalm he expresses his confidence in God and has a very descriptive message of the peace he experienced and also the peace and fellowship that is for all those who have a vital companionship with the Shepherd.
1. “The Lord is my shepherd: I shall not want.” This good Shepherd gave David a peace that brought complete contentment and satisfaction. Likewise, if we “seek the kingdom of God,” all these things shall be added, all our needs will be filled.
2. He maketh us to be at peace in a troubled world. He leadeth us into the quietness and stillness of His love.
3. Here David remembers the time he had a troubled mind because of sin. The good Shepherd forgave him and restored him into joy and peace.
4. Even though the storms of life beat upon us and troubles overshadow, we fear no evil because God is with us - delivering , protecting, and sustaining.
5. What a shepherd to fill us with His goodness to an overflow in the presence of our enemies!
6. How fully protected are the sheep of His pasture!
Do you know this Shepherd? Do you believe and trust Him? Isaiah tells us that this tender, merciful Shepherd “shall gather the lambs with his arms, and carry them in his bosom.” Are you ready to be lifted out of confusion into the serenity of God’s everlasting arms? Are you ready to commit to Him your past sins, your present temptations, your fears of the future, and yield yourself completely to Him? The choice is yours and you have the ability to make it.
When you come to Jesus Christ with your whole heart, your search for peace of mind will be over. He will give a peace, and a calm that comes only from trusting Him. You will be able to say with the poet:
I know a peace, where there is no peace,You will have peace of mind in a troubled world! Open the door of your heart to Christ - just now - and someday He’ll open the door of Heaven for you, where perfect peace will reign and never end.
A calm, where wild winds blow,
A secret place where face to face
With the Master I may go.
- Ralph Spalding Cushman
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