There’s Peace, and Then There’s Peace
There is a song on the radio and that we sing in church, by Cody Carnes, called “Firm Foundation.” In the second verse of the song, he sings, “I've still got joy in chaos, I've got peace that makes no sense.” To some, these might just be words in a song, but both of these lines are based on scripture. Joy in chaos could come out of James 1:2 “Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds.” And peace that makes no sense comes from Philippians 4:7 “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
What do you think of when you think of peace? If you were around in the 60’s, maybe you think of the peace movement, an anti-war, pro-peace, love and freedom crusade. Some religions teach that you only need to look within yourself to find your inner peace. Others use yoga or meditation in an attempt to achieve calmness, a sign of peace. Though exercise and inner self-examination are good practices, the peace they bring you may not sustain you in a storm.
I live an area that is affected by hurricanes. All states have their own kind of storms…earthquakes, tornadoes, or avalanches…and they all pack their own kind of punch, but hurricanes are in a league of their own. For someone new to hurricanes, they may think when the sun comes out, after a few hours of being pounded, that the storm is over, but it’s not. The hurricane has a calmness, called the eye. Anyone who’s gone through a hurricane knows that this peace is temporary, and that the second wave is about to hit. Someone once said, “Real peace is not what you feel during the eye of the storm, it’s the calm you feel during the storm.”
Go back to Philippians 4:7, “And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God’s peace, not worldly peace, which is so immense we can’t even wrap our heads around it, will guard us during our troubles. John 14:27 says, “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.” If I read between the lines here, I think the Lord is telling us to be leery of any other way to obtain peace, otherwise He wouldn’t differentiate between the two by pointing out that the peace He gives is NOT that of the world. His is not the temporary eye-of-the-storm peace; His is the calm when the winds are whipping and rain is pounding.