Meditation on Inner Peace
“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” (John 14:27 NIV)
God’s peace isn’t like the world’s peace. The world says there will be peace one day in the future when we have all of the things and relationships that we want.
That is false.
When we look at the world that way, and we do get something we want, we very soon after simply get anxious about the next thing we dont have. How often have you longed for that car, or outfit, or even that date, swearing you will be at peace if only you can have it, and then the minute you get it the shine is rubbed off and it just doesn’t seem as special as it did before? A dog will fight tooth and paw over a plate of food that it won’t eat once it wins it. The nature of humanity is no different. We only value what we don’t have, we never notice what we have. And so we think that those things will bring peace, even though its plain that people who do have them are in just as much pain and difficulty as us, we seem to imagine the grass is greener over there.
We live in a perpetual state of grief and worry, only relieved by momentary highs when something good happens, before sinking again when we are reminded of the bottomless pit of what we don’t possess.
The truth is that on this path there is no peace.
God’s peace is offered to us despite the circumstances. To experience this we must make an intellectual choice that He is enough. That He is all we need.
To spend time quietly in His Presence is to know the comfort of His voice and the peace that comes with the touch of His almighty invisible hand on our shoulders.
It is in that moment that we realise He really is and really was sitting right there beside us all along. Then we don’t need to be terrified of what may or may not be in the future. We can comfortably trust the infinitely loving Him with our tomorrows, because He has already filled our cups in the today.
In that moment we also experience both peace and joy: not that we are always happy, but we may choose to rejoice because we know in the depths of our souls that He is with us, we are accepted by Him, He is trustworthy and so everything is going to be ok.
“When anxiety was great within me, your consolation brought me joy.” (Psalms 94:19 NIV)
~ Daniel Matteo, Pastor and writer in Victoria, Australia