John 14:27 NIV
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.
Happy?
Anxiety
seems to be on the rise as is depression.
One in twelve Americans struggle with depression and forty percent of
Americans say they are experiencing more anxiety than they did last year. Is there anything in particular that drives
up your blood pressure? What gives you a
tension headache or causes you to lose sleep?
Has your temper caused you problems or discouragement zapped your
strength? What takes away your peace? When
you lose it, how do you get it back?
There are so many opportunities for you to become frustrated and
discouraged and angry and even worried that it is no wonder so many struggle
with maintaining their tranquility.
Perhaps you would like a bit more quiet in your soul…a little more peace. Let’s talk about it!
Most
of the time the way peace is reestablished is by a change in
circumstances. The bill gets paid. A new job makes life better. A divorce ends the fighting. The prognosis improves. If it is only a shift in the situation or the
environment that changes your mood, then the quality of peace is haphazard and
chaotic. It comes and goes with the roll
of the dice. There is no depth to the
peace, no staying power that withstands tough times. The Bible has much to say about peace and
plenty of examples of peace experienced during trying times.
Few
would say that they are at peace when suffering, fewer still would be calm and
undisturbed when dying while in great pain and yet it is possible. As the early church leader Stephen, one of
the first twelve deacons in the Christian community was being executed through
stoning, he was not like most people. He
prayed without showing any signs of bitterness or anger. While
they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, "Lord Jesus, receive my
spirit." Then he fell on his knees and
cried out, "Lord, do not hold this sin against them." When he had
said this, he fell asleep. (Acts 7:59-60 NIV) Of course this is not normal: Stephen’s
reaction and perhaps we would add that it is not natural. Yet it happened. A human being with a human body and brain was
able to pray for God to show his attackers mercy without any indication he was
angry, bitter or despondent. Without
further comment, let us just admit that under terrifying and horrific
circumstances, a human being can maintain peace within.
A
second example of this same response to a terrible crisis is found in one of
the books of the Bible written before the time of Christ. Daniel, the ancient man of God, was ordered
like everyone else in the Persian Empire to pray to no one other than the
emperor or face execution. Because he
was faithful to the Lord and unwilling to renounce his loyalty to Him, Daniel
continued to openly pray to the Lord. Now when Daniel learned that the decree had
been published, he went home to his upstairs room where the windows opened
toward Jerusalem. Three times a day he got down on his knees and prayed, giving
thanks to his God, just as he had done before.
(Daniel 6:10 NIV) Again, such
adamant loyalty to God at the risk of death is not normal and yet that is still
how Daniel responded. And so judgement
was rendered against Daniel. So the king gave the order, and they
brought Daniel and threw him into the lions' den. The king said to Daniel,
"May your God, whom you serve continually, rescue you!" A stone was brought and placed over the mouth
of the den, and the king sealed it with his own signet ring and with the rings
of his nobles, so that Daniel's situation might not be changed. (Daniel 6:16-18 NIV) There is no record of
Daniel pleading for mercy or demanding a lawyer or weeping in turmoil. He simply accepted the sentence and
peacefully waited to be killed. Of
course that did not happen and it was certainly a miracle that saved
Daniel. At the first light of dawn, the king
got up and hurried to the lions' den. When he came near the den, he called to Daniel
in an anguished voice, "Daniel, servant of the living God, has your God,
whom you serve continually, been able to rescue you from the lions?" Daniel answered, "O king, live forever! My God sent his angel, and he shut the mouths
of the lions. They have not hurt me, because I was found innocent in his sight.
Nor have I ever done any wrong before
you, O king." (Daniel
6:19-22 NIV)
If
for a moment you can just look past the supernatural aspect of Daniel’s rescue,
consider carefully the peace Daniel possessed in the midst of a terrifying
crisis. Not only did he calmly keep
praying to the Lord when the threat was so great but he also faced his execution
without a hint of worry or complaint.
That may be even more supernatural than the angel protecting Daniel from
the lions. Such great internal strength
is rarely found among people, not even God’s people and yet there it was. Peace!
Once more in the Old Testament is an account worth examining if we are
to see what sort of peace you can have.
The
prophet Elisha had a group of apprentices who he was training to be
missionaries in Israel. They set about
building a dormitory to house them all, cutting down trees for the
construction. However, the project had
its difficulties. As one of them was cutting down a tree, the iron axhead fell into the
water. "Oh, my lord," he cried out, "it was borrowed!" The man of God asked, "Where did it
fall?" When he showed him the place, Elisha cut a
stick and threw it there, and made the iron float. "Lift it out," he said. Then the man
reached out his hand and took it. (2 Kings 6:5-7 NIV) Once more, this predicament was solved
through the supernatural intervention of God but before the remedy came, Elisha
was unperturbed by the crisis the apprentice encountered. Rather than panic or fret, Elisha calmly
assessed the situation and knew what to do.
That sort of reaction is not strange or unknown in normal human circumstances. There are plenty of people who stay calm when
crises hit because they are skilled at problem solving. What is telling is that Elisha is identified
as a “man of God” which means something here.
As a man of God Elisha lived in peace when his friend fell apart. There is a “man of God” sort of peace that we
need to consider when it comes to anxiety and depression.
Let
us consider the peace Mary the mother of Jesus had when she found herself facing
a financial crisis. She was with her son
at a wedding and it would seem that she was close to the groom, perhaps a
relative or a close family friend. She
discovered that the groom had run out of wine for the guests and this was
horrifying for the family. It would have
been a source of humiliation for years in the small town if some solution could
not be found. Mary turned to Jesus and
told Him the problem. His reaction may
have made sense to Mary but it is hard to understand now. Literally it was, “What to you and to
me?” What does that mean? It is not clear at all but Mary’s response is
quite clear. She told the servants of
the groom, "Do whatever he tells
you." (John 2:5 NIV) There is
in this a casual indifference on the part of Mary to the wine crisis. It was now in Jesus’ hands and she could
calmly move to other business. There is
a strange, supernatural tranquility that comes over the person who decides a
matter is now God’s problem and lets it stay with Him. It is not reasonable to many; it is almost
irrational and yet that is what happens to us when we give our troubles to God
and trust Him with them. God’s peace
takes over our personality and with a calmness we cannot generate ourselves,
our Lord of peace gives us His own serenity and stills our agitated
thoughts.
When
Jesus died on the cross, a transaction occurred which completely alters the
relationship between us and mental health.
By taking our sins into His own body, our Lord becomes free to work His
own perfect life into ours. It is not
reasonable nor logical either that God would do this or that He does do
it. It is as the Bible puts it, a
“mystery”. …the mystery that has been kept hidden
for ages and generations, but is now disclosed to the saints. To them God has chosen to make known among the
Gentiles the glorious riches of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope
of glory.
(Colossians 1:26-27 NIV) The incredible
enigma is of Christ a part of you changes all the rules for personal
peace. Christ is a part of you which
means that every piece of His personality is worked into you. This includes His joy. I have
told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. (John
15:11 NIV) We also gain His hope. Find
rest, O my soul, in God alone; my hope comes from him. (Psalm 62:5 NIV) And now, as we see, we also have the peace
Christ has. Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. (John 14:27 NIV)
The
same peace Jesus had when the storm raged as He sat in the boat, that He had
when His friend ran out of wine at the wedding, the same peace Jesus had as He
was being taken off to be crucified is available to us! How do we access it? We pray!
Lord I need your peace. I cannot
get through this on my own. My God, give
me your peace. I am stressed and
worried. Give me your peace! It is there for you at any moment. You don’t have to be fearful or worried or
distressed. The very peace of Christ has
been given to you. You just need to let
it work in you. You will notice a
trigger for your anger or fear or worry.
It could be a bill, a health issue, a concern for one of your children,
something your husband or wife is doing.
You have experience with these triggers.
They always get you but they don’t have to now. You start to feel that old destructive
emotion building in you: fear, anger,
despair, worry. Give up
immediately. Admit you are not able to
stop what is rising in you. Pray. Lord Jesus, I need your peace now. The authority of Christ over the universe is
right then in your favor. His power
demands that calm come over you. You
must trust Him though and that may take you some time. You are so used to getting mad or worried,
used to flailing about and trying to find a solution and so for a while you may
have to suffer from depression or stress or anger that hurts you and others but
give yourself time to get used to having Christ in you. As soon as you cry out to God for His peace,
He will give it to you. Right then and
there! Go ahead. Make use of the precious gift of peace Christ
died to make your own. Pray for peace in
you.
