Kept In Peace

Kept in Peace

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! Isaiah 26:3

SOME PHILOSOPHIES TEACH THAT the key to peace is emptying our minds of all anxieties and fears—that we arrive at peace by avoiding the things that unsettle it. But empty minds are easily filled again, and if we haven’t replaced anxieties and fears with something much greater, they return with a vengeance. The effort to sweep the mind of negative thoughts can be as exhausting as trying to keep a leaky boat from filling up with water. It’s a never-ending process, and for many people, a futile one.

Scripture gives us a much more satisfying alternative. Our minds are kept in perfect peace by filling them with the one who is above all anxieties, fears, worries, conflicts, threats, dangers, and whatever else the world throws at us. We have no shortage of fear-inducers—a dreaded diagnosis, a financial setback, a volatile relationship, a rejection letter, and so much more. These carriers of potentially harmful information present unwanted facts. But God is never subject to “facts.” He is reality, and every fact we perceive has to submit to his definition of truth. Faith sees beyond immediate situations and into the heart of the Father above them.

That’s why we can remain in peace. We don’t deny circumstances, close our eyes, and try to shut out anxieties. All of those responses are still, in one way or another, a focus on the problem. We focus instead on the solution, the God who has authority over all circumstances and can change them. When our minds are riveted on him and filled with his goodness, we receive the peace that passes understanding. We remain constantly in the eye of the storm, where calmness reigns regardless of the winds swirling around it. In the center of his promises, we aren’t rattled by circumstances. We are able to trust in him.

That kind of trusting peace opens our hearts to all kinds of blessings and answers to prayer. It builds faith that refuses to bend to visible demands. We see beyond the visible into the revelation and receive what God wants to give. Most of all, he wants to give himself. Focused there, our hearts and minds are at rest.

If the basis of peace is God, the secret of peace is trust.