Perfect Peace

The psalmist, under inspiration, gave us great hope and confidence when he penned "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusted in thee." (Isaiah 26:3) When I think of a biblical word picture that illustrates perfect peace, I think immediately of the boat on the Sea of Galilee which carried Jesus and His disciples. As the darkness fell, the typical storm blew quickly upon them, and midst the wind and waves, there was hysterical fear. As you will remember, Jesus was asleep in the bow of the boat, and the disciples found it hard to understand why He wasn't up DOING SOMETHING about the problem. As they drew nigh to the Lord, as James would later address, He drew nigh to them And simply spoke to the waves, and they were stilled. Incredible!!!!!! How often we find ourselves in a sudden, unexpected, severe "storm" and find that a word from Jesus brings peace. The adjective God chose to use for this marvelous state of tranquility and trust was the open-ended, unlimited, incomprehensible one of PERFECT. There is no means known to man to improve on that state. So when God freely offers PERFECT PEACE to the believer, He gives no qualifying circumstances that must be in order. He only gives the two clear qualifications for it. One is salvation, the other is meditation on and obedience to His Word. That is, after all, what it means to"stay your mind" on Him. It is not simply thinking about Him, nor is it looking at a picture someone has painted of Him that hangs on a wall. It is not even merely thinking abut a Scripture, for in all actuality, according to James 1, the flesh, from whence originates the lust and ensuing departure from intimate fellowship with our loving Lord must be over-ridden by practical yieldedness to the Scripture if we are to know victory over sin. Perfect peace.....in times of storm, with the temptations to fear and worry, comes as the believer draws nigh to Him in remembering the SCRIPTURE that pertains to the situation, PRAYING agreement with God's Word, and following with ACTIONS that apply His Word. Using that SPA acrostic gives us the exercise unto godliness that Paul spoke of to Timothy in 1 Timothy 4:7. May God give you His perfect peace today in the midst of your particular storm as you keep your mind stayed on Him.

(c) 1993 N.A. Collins - Limited copy permission for one personal copy