Finding His Peace — The Car Parable

When I was a new believer, I started to become aware of just how much baggage I carried. I figured repenting and being forgiven took care of everything. Then I began a discovery process, like peeling back layers of onion. Surely, I thought, His peace within was just like sitting by that peaceful lake — all the time.

You might laugh, but one of the first lessons as a young believer was when I was anxious or fearful over finances to keep my first car running. I still remember the tightening in my throat when things started going wrong with the car. A lot went wrong, and I had little money to fix things.

The Holy Spirit has a way of using any circumstance to reveal the cracks and crevasses that hold some darkness. Little did I know at that young age that He was so loving that He would discipline me for anything contrary to His nature. I found I could have peace in the situation. I learned it more than once. That peace, of course, is not as the world gives (John 14:27) because it comes from the Spirit of Christ within. Of course, the process of discipline of a son or daughter of the Lord never stops, so I came to expect circumstances to be used to show me more of the peace He promises to his children.

Decades later I was asked to visit a foreign country. I was internally afraid. I knew I was going; I said I was going. After all, it was a mission trip. However, there was an uncomfortableness or twinge of fear in the matter because of some experiences visiting an embassy to obtain visas for a mission group almost 20 years earlier. That country had a hardened dictator, and their embassy in the US was full of military people with brusque and bad attitudes. It worked out, but it was not a pleasant experience. Now I was going myself to a nation whose officials were noted for being the same way. His peace became evident in a deeper way in the process of walking through the situation.

Do you know His peace — the kind that comes to a person born again? If not, He gives it with a commitment to Him with a whole heart and a repentance of sin.

If you know Him already, do you have His peace in contrary circumstances? Is your spouse afraid to talk with you because of your lack of peace? Can your children rest in your arms safely? Is your presence a safe haven in times of trouble because others sense His peace in you? Is a pandemic situation causing unreasonable fear? For these situations and many others, we need our knowledge of His peace to grow. Believers can appropriate more of His peace by walking with the Lord through contrary circumstances. So, expect lessons on the matter, because His peace is a marked attribute of the Kingdom of God.

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The kingdom of God is not a matter of eating or drinking but of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.  Romans 14:17 (ESV)