“You will guard him and keep him in perfect and constant peace whose mind [both its inclination and its character] is stayed on You, because he commits himself to You, leans on You, and hopes confidently in You.” – Isaiah 26 verse 3
This verse resonated with me today. And I hope that as I share my thoughts with you, it strikes you too.
Is your mind at rest regarding the economy? Regarding the political sphere? Or the future of your family and your children? Is your mind at peace regarding your personal financial situation? Or any debt you may find yourself laden with? If you are not yet married, is your mind at rest regarding the person you will eventually get to marry? Or are you worried perpetually?
Constantly imagining the worst that could happen. Maybe believing the lie that all men cheat, or that women will not be loyal if you do not fornicate. Or maybe that the economy you find yourself in is an impossible one to thrive in? That Zimbabwe is too fare gone, or that South Africa is just going to be impossible to thrive In come the next election?
Because if, for any reason, you find what you believe is just cause to worry, then you do not have perfect peace, and by deduction, you do not trust God. Probably not completely, but in this particular area, you are only worried because you are not leaning in on him.
This is the simple logic of Isaiah 26 verse 3.
If you trust God, then you have perfect and constant peace, independent of whatever it is that is going on around you. And if this is not your portion, you have not put yurself in a place where you trust God.
It struck me because I realised in the chaos of the current year, the dynamics at work, and the possibilities of tomorrow, I have been more often than not in a place of worry.
In a place where I am anxious about the future of Zimbabwe, about the state of our roads, or the platinum industry where I currently work. All have valid reasons, in natural to give me a reason to worry. From multiple personality disorder when it comes to our local currency, to often terribly maintained roads that often make journeys twice as long as they need to be, to an industry where, over the last 3 years, more than 20,000 jobs have been lost.
But is God really God, and is He for me? Because if He is indeed God, supreme, and for me, then surely, there is no problem too big for him to handle, from provision, to security – there is nothing good that he withholds from us. Therefore, worry cannot and should never be my portion.
And neither should it be yours. Because he does care.
In my case, my worry is probably because, like Peter, on the water, I took my eyes off the Lord, and started looking at the waves around me. If you recall the story, Peter walked on water up to this point. It is when he saw the raw power of the waves, and his eyes were off Jesus that he started to sink.
But maybe your reason for not trusting is different. Maybe it is not because you are looking at the waves, but because you know that God can do it, but for someone else. Someone else, not you, because you do not deserve it. You have done terrible things. Or maybe you are not lucky enough to be deserving of his attention.
If so, I have good news for you. None of us deserves it. None of us deserves anything he has to give – because as the word says, our righteousness is as filthy rags. We get to experience the goodness of God towards us because he has compassion on us, and he has chosen to love us in spite of ourselves. He gave us Christ, not because we begged and pleaded, but because he has great love and compassion towards us, his creation.
Therefore, as we have been challenged, let us resolve to have the correct answers to the following questions in our hearts, so that we can more and more get closer to the state of perfect peace in our heart?
- Is God really God – invincible, all-powerful, immortal and without equal?
- Is God really for me, concerned about my life, and desiring that which is good for me and my life?
- Does my response matter – will God’s will happen anyway, or do my actions contribute?
- Can I trust God to be delighted to fulfil his word consistently in my life, as I go on in the walk of faith?
In later post, I will dive into some of these questions, probably all of them at some poitn, as I believe that if we correctly discen the word and thoughts of God on these matters, not only will we be able to live in perfect peace, but we will see his perfect will made manifest in our lives.