Can we really experience perfect peace, especially at times like this, when there is so much uncertainty--some of which seems enormous and menacing (like nuclear saber-rattling…yikes!)?
This verse says we can. But how? And what does perfect really look like?
The Oxford Dictionary defines perfect this way:
1.having all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be.
2. absolute; complete (used for emphasis).
I love that first definition but that's a tall order for anything!
Verse 4 goes on to urge us to trust God because He's an everlasting rock. This foreshadows the very point made by Jesus' in his parable in Matthew 7:24-27, the subject of my latest blog post (https://www.isabellacampolattaro.com/.../shifting-sands...). Then, just this morning Marsha Burns' devotional urged us to stand on a rock. I love it when themes converge from different sources.
That tells me, "Pay attention! This is worth noting."
I've been working on writing another near-death experience, this one by the daughter of WWII survivors. Like my own parents in Italy, her parents endured years of wartime Germany; bombing raids and destruction, food rationing, political oppression, and the horrors of Jewish persecution.
Their former foundations--jobs, family, finances, national harmony, health, even the roof over their heads--vanished virtually overnight. They had to rely on something else, someone else, who could not be taken or shaken.
You don't have to go to war to have your foundations rattled. I've experimented anchoring my peace in a variety of things, only to find them imperfect indeed.
There is really only one truly unfailing foundation for peace, Jesus Himself. The promise of eternity was purchased for us by Christ on the cross. Whatever we face here, we can fix our eyes on the eternal Jesus, knowing all His benefits are accessible to us here and now and forever, too (Ephesians 1:15-20, 3:14:21).
How can we attain perfect peace? Fix our eyes on Him, meditate on Him, trust Him and His perfect peace...just like this verse says.
He has "all the required or desirable elements, qualities, or characteristics; as good as it is possible to be." He alone is “absolute and complete."
Remember: He loves you no matter what.
Grace & peace,
