PERFECT
PEACE
"You
will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You because
he trusts in You " (Isaiah 26:3).
A
wonderful promise is that, and it ought to be the aim of every one of
us to make it our experience. The way to do this is simple: it is to
keep our minds stayed on our Lord. But while it is simple, I confess
it is no easy matter for most men to do it. They would rather think
about business, about pleasure, about the news of the day, about
politics, education, music, or about the work of the Lord, than about
the Lord Himself.
Now,
business and other things must needs take some of our thought, and we
must pay attention to the work of the Lord, if we love Him and the
souls for whom He died; but, just as the maiden in all her work and
pleasure thinks of her lover, and just as the young bride filled with
new cares is in her heart communing with her husband, though he may
be far from her, so we should in everything think of, and commune
with, Jesus, and let our hearts fully trust His wisdom, love and
power, and then we shall be kept in "perfect peace."
Just
think of it! "All the treasures of wisdom and knowledge are hid"
in Him, and we, in our ignorance and foolishness, are "complete
in Him." We may not understand, but He understands. We may not
know, but He knows. We may be perplexed, but He is not perplexed.
Then we ought to trust Him if we are His, and we shall be kept in
"perfect peace."
Ten
thousand times I have been at my wits' end, but, oh! how it
comforted me to know that Jesus saw the end from the beginning and
was making all things work together for my good because I loved and
trusted Him! Jesus is never at His wits" end, and when we are
most puzzled and confounded by our foolishness and short-sightedness,
Jesus, in the fullness of His love and with all the infinity of His
wisdom and power, is working out the desires of our hearts, if they
be holy desires; for does He not say, "He will fulfil the desire
of those who fear Him" (Ps. 145:19)?
Jesus
not only has wisdom and love, but He assures us that "all power
in Heaven and earth" is His, so that the counsels of His wisdom
and the tender desire of His love cannot fail for lack of power to
fulfill them. He can turn the hearts of kings, and make them do His
will, and His faithful love will lead Him to do it, if we but trust
Him. Nothing is more surprising to the children of God, who trust Him
and watch His ways, than the marvellous and unexpected deliverances
He works out for them, and the kind of people He uses to fulfill His
will.
Our
hearts long to see the glory of the Lord and the prosperity of Zion,
and we pray to God and wonder how the desire of our hearts is to be
obtained; but we trust and look to God, and He sets to work, with the
most unlikely people and in the most unheard-of way, to answer our
prayers and reward our patient faith. And so, in all the little
vexatious trials and delays of our everyday, plodding life, if we
trust and keep on rejoicing right through all that bothers us, we
will find God at work for us, for He says He is a "present help
in trouble" - all trouble - and so He is to all who keep their
minds stayed on Him. Only a short period has elapsed since the Lord
has been allowing me to pass through a series of the most troublesome
little times, just calculated to annoy me to the uttermost. But while
waiting on Him in prayer, He showed me that if I had more confidence
in Him in my difficulties, I would keep on rejoicing, and so get
blessings out of my trials, as Samson got honey out of the carcass of
the lion he slew, and so I proved it to be. Bless His holy name! I
did rejoice, and one trial after the other vanished away, and only
the sweetness of my Lord's presence and blessing remained, and my
heart has been kept in perfect peace since.
Does
not God do all this to hide pride from us, to humble us, and make us
see that our character before Him is of more consequence than our
service to Him; to teach us to walk by faith and not by sight, and to
encourage us to trust and be at peace?
Now,
let no honest soul whose faith is small, nor any of those big
busybodies, who seem to think that if they did not worry and fret and
rush about and make a great noise the universe would come to a
standstill and go to ruin, suppose for an instant that there is any
likeness whatever between "perfect peace" and perfect
indifference. Indifference is a child of sloth. Peace is the
offspring of a faith that is ceaseless in its activity - an activity
that is the most perfect, and the mightiest of which man is capable,
for through it, poor unarmed men have "subdued kingdoms, wrought
righteousness, obtained promises, stopped the mouths of lions,
quenched the violence of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, out of
weakness were made strong, waxed valiant in fight, turned to flight
the armies of the aliens, women received their dead raised to life
again" (Heb. 11:33-35).
To
exercise this mighty faith which brings "perfect peace," we
must receive the Holy Ghost into our hearts, and recognize Him, not
as an influence or an attribute of God, but as God Himself. He is a
Person, and He will make us know Jesus, and understand His mind and
will, and realize His constant presence, if we trust Him. Jesus is
ever present with us, and, if we long for Him, it will so please Him
that He will always help us to stay our minds on Him.
It
will require some effort on our part, however; for the world,
business, the weakness of the flesh, the infirmities of our minds,
the careless example of the people about us, and the devil with all
his wiles, will so seek to turn our thoughts from our Lord and make
us forget Him, that, maybe, not more than once or twice in
twenty-four hours shall our thoughts and affections turn to Him, and
then only by a strong and prolonged effort, and even in times of
prayer we may not really find God.
Let
us then cultivate the habit of communing with Jesus. When our
thoughts wander from Him, let us turn them back again; but let us do
this quietly and patiently, for any impatience, even with ourselves,
is dangerous, disturbing our inward peace, drowning the still small
voice of the Spirit, and hindering the grace of God from mastering us
and subduing our hearts.
But
if, in all meekness and lowliness of heart, we allow the Holy Spirit
to dwell in us, and are obedient to His voice, He will keep our
hearts in a holy calm in the midst of ten thousand cares and
weaknesses and troubles.
"Be
careful for nothing; but in everything by prayer and supplication
with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the
peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep [garrison]
your hearts and mind through Christ Jesus" (Phil. 4:6, 7).
By Samuel Logan Brengle
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