Peace in the storm can only be God's.

People love to talk about peace. Everybody wants it. And who can argue with that?

But what are we really asking for?

• an absence of all aches
• an assurance of ease
• a break in the battle
• a cessation of scorn
• a conclusion to all concerns
• a cutoff of all crises
• a downtime for all disappointments
• a finish to frustrations
• a freedom from all frays
• a halt to hostility
• a hiatus from hate
• a pause of pain
• a remission of rivalries
• a stop to all storms
• a time-out from troubles
• a waning of worries
• or just a good night’s sleep?

What do we mean by peace?

It seems as if crowds flashing peace signs and crowing for peace may not have a sturdy handle on what they’re even asking. Have we missed the mark? Dictators and demagogues may point to momentary lulls as badges of honor, as if they’ve achieved peace. Others claim they can offer us peace, if we will follow their leads, vote in their favor, or buy into whatever they’re selling. But if we look closer, we are likely to find certain crises still prevailing and troubling concerns continuing. 

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“They dress the wound of my people as though it were not serious. 'Peace, peace,' they say, when there is no peace.” (Jeremiah 6:14, NIV)

Is peace even possible?

The storms continue to rage. Maybe it will ever be so, at least until the Lord’s Kingdom comes into full view. And yet God promises peace to His people.

We know He can do it. We can quote chapter and verse on instances where He calmed the waves, healed the sick, cast out demons, and worked many other miracles to bring His answer of peace to those who sorely needed it.

What about us, Lord?

Perhaps the peace the Lord offers is unlike anything we may have imagined. Maybe He’ll stand and still the storm around us, but maybe He won’t. Perhaps He’ll offer us His strikingly supernatural peace right in the middle of the maelstrom.

We may still have to slog through rivers, wade through rough waters, swim upstream, and flail through fires – either proverbially or literally. Flames of angry words and unfair attacks, wild storms of medical crises, wild waves of career upsets, hurricanes of hurt feelings and upsetting emotions, and smoldering embers of broken relationships may persist.

But the One who can calm the harshest gale with a single word is willing to walk through all of these perils with us.

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“Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you pass through the rivers, they will not sweep over you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be burned; the flames will not set you ablaze. For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.” (Isaiah 43:1b-3a, NIV)

God, give us a glimpse of Your peace, even in the middle of the storms in which we live.

 

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Yearning – God's character from A to Z

God can do anything, right? So why doesn’t He just make everyone love Him?

We know that God is omnipotent (all-powerful), so we like to think He could have anything He wanted. And it’s true. If God wanted to say the word and make everyone love and trust and follow Him, He surely could.

But He doesn’t.

He won’t, because He loves us too much to take away our choice. By making man and woman in His own image, he built the ability to choose right into us. We can decide to love Him back, or we can opt to go it alone, wherever that leads us.

God didn’t make marionettes. He made mankind.

Still, God is yearning for souls to surrender to His saving grace. What is yearning? It’s craving, deeply desiring, earnestly aching, and longing. That’s how God feels about you and me.

The Old Testament prophet Isaiah spoke of God this way: “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you” (Isaiah 30:18a, NIV – emphasis mine).

Jesus looked towards Jerusalem and said, “How often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing” (Matthew 23:37b, NIV – emphasis mine).

Maybe yearning is the reason God still sets the world spinning on its axis.

Could that be why He didn’t wrap up history immediately after Jesus won the once-and-for-all victory over sin and death by bursting from the grave three days after His crucifixion at Calvary?

As He gave His own life on the cross, Jesus said, “It is finished.” (See John 19:30.) But God keeps history growing – nearly two millennia later. His redemption plan was completed long ago, but God is still building His family.

Think of it: If Jehovah God had closed the curtain on this creation at that time, you and I and all the people we love would never have been born and had the opportunity to choose to love Him.

“The Lord is not slow in keeping His promise, as some understand slowness. Instead, He is patient with you, not wanting any to perish, but everyone to come to repentance.” (2 Peter 3:9, NIV)

Yes, God is yearning for you.

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Adapted from public domain art

Bible verse graphic – created on quote generator

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