The Peace of God

These are much quoted scripture verses dealing with anxiety and worry, the subject of numerous other verses in the Bible. Is there anything that we can draw out through meditation in this passage? Let’s take a look.

Be careful for nothing. The word careful is from the Greek word merimnao (mer-im-nah'-o), meaning to be anxious or troubled with cares. We could say it this way, do not be anxious or troubled with cares about anything.

Are people anxious and troubled with cares? Yes. The whole world is troubled about something, just about everyone. How is it possible to be anxious and troubled for nothing? It is possible only through faith and through trust in God. The passage in Psalm 91 comes to mind.

The word translated in verse 1 as “dwelleth” means to sit, to sit down, to remain or stay in. He who sits down in the hiding place of the most High shall lodge or pass the night under the protection of Shadday, the Almighty God.

To sit down means to cease from activity or to rest from working.

Verse 2 of Psalm 91 says, He is my fortress: my God; in Him will I trust. The word translated as “trust” here is defined as to trust in, to be confident in, to be secure. Strong’s Concordance makes reference to the meaning of this word from the source (TWOT), the Theological Wordbook of the Old Testament, which defines this word trust as to feel safe, to be careless or, that is, carefree.

To feel safe, to be carefree. How do we give our trust to God? By allowing ourselves to feel safe and carefree in Him. He is my fortress, my castle, my stronghold, in Him will I feel safe and be carefree.

Is it possible to let go of worries and cares and trust in the Lord and feel safe in Him? It is possible for those who have given their life to Him and who are endeavoring to follow Him. This is a privilege that belongs to believers in Christ.

Through Christ Jesus. It is through Him that we have access to the peace of God that passes all understanding.

It says to be careful for nothing, but through prayer make your requests known unto God, and the peace of God will keep your heart and mind. We trade our worries for His peace, but only by sitting down in His secret place or trust, by ceasing from our own efforts to handle things and giving those things to Him through prayer.

How do we know God will come through for us? By faith, by trust, by relaxing and letting Him handle things, by taking our hands off the levers of control and allowing Him to work in our behalf and by giving Him opportunity to tell us what we need to do when He needs us to do something.

And in the meantime, we can live carefree and in total peace of mind, while we wait patiently on Him to direct our paths.

He keeps us in perfect or complete peace, because our mind is leaning on Him, and not leaning on our own ability to control things and fix things.

It seems that once we discover truth from the word of God, that suddenly it is all over the Bible. Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean upon your own understanding. Don’t try to figure it out. Don’t try to control it or handle it. Give it over to Him in prayer and leave it there.

Humble yourselves before His mighty hand. It takes humility to let go of our cares and worries and give them over to Him. It requires the recognition that He is better at handling our situations in our life than we are. And that’s a humbling reality.

How do we humble ourselves? By casting all our cares, our worries, our concerns, our troubles, upon him through prayer; for he cares for us, He is concerned for our well-being.

Imagine that. God cares for our well-being, in the same way a parent cares for a child, because that is what we are, His children. Oh, but didn't Jesus say something along that line?

Yes, we are going all over the place with this. But that’s alright, because that’s what meditation does. It takes us wherever the Spirit leads us. We go down many trails, and even down a few rabbit holes, but by the grace of God we gain truth and understanding all along the way.

But it just wouldn’t be right to leave from this meditation without looking at a couple more passages of Jesus teaching on the subject.

Seek first the kingdom, go after the kingdom. How do we do that? By meditating in the word of God.