What image comes to mind when you hear the word “Peace”?
Maybe it’s a tranquil place . . . a green meadow with a trickling brook, where the birds are singing, the sun is shining and everything is pristine?
Maybe it is simply the absence of chaos.
Maybe it is what you are wishing your life was like right now.
But what if peace was more like a place of refuge during a raging storm? Could it be, not the absence of trouble, heartache and brokenness but the peace we are given in the middle of our mess?
A few years ago, I came across these verses tucked back in the obscure book of Habakkuk. They took my breath away.
Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the LORD! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation! Habakkuk 3.17-18
What kind of a person says this in the middle of such horrendous devastation?
I believe it’s a person who knows where true peace is found. It isn’t the absence of chaos but knowing where to go for sanctuary in the middle of it.
This kind of peace can only be found in the difficult times if we have made a habit of being with Him in the easy times.
What kind of peace are you pursuing? Life with no trouble or hardship? My friend, this kind of peace will always be just beyond our reach. It will slip through your fingers like sand. It simply is not the world we live in.
Or are you willing to embrace the peace that Jesus gives – a shelter in a time of storm, refuge in the chaos, and a sanctuary in the middle of our mess.
Lord, I am constantly wishing my life to be trouble free but that was never what you promised. You promised Your presence and Your peace. Teach me to trust You and to take refuge in the shadow of Your wings. Amen
Spilling His grace,
Grace Spilled Over 