Finding God’s Peace

The word “peace” makes over 100 appearances in the New Testament alone. We will examine two scriptures in particular as we look to find God’s peace. It is interesting to note that in both scriptures the key to finding peace is to give up “worry.”

First we will look at Phil 4:6-7 (from the NLT).

“Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank Him for His answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand.”

This scripture is similar to the message of the Serenity Prayer. “Don’t worry about anything,” covers all possibilities. Don’t worry about the weather, the traffic, what other people say, think or do. Instead of worrying about these things we are instructed to pray.

“Tell God what you need.” Many people would argue that God already knows what we need before we ask. There is truth in that. However, we are still instructed to ask. Remember the blind man shouting over the crowd to get the attention of Jesus? The louder he shouted the more the crowd tried to hush him up. Eventually Jesus heard the man’s cries and asked him to be brought over. Then Jesus asked, “What do you want?” Did Jesus know what the blind man wanted… of course! But we see here that Jesus wanted him to speak it.

Lastly we are told to be grateful for what we have. Show me an individual who is grateful for their circumstances and I will show you someone at peace. Remember that grateful doesn’t mean happy. But, if we believe the scripture that, “God will cause all things to work for good…,” then how can we not be grateful?

The next scripture we will look at is Matt 6: 25-34 (also from the NLT).

“So my counsel is: Don’t worry about things – food, drink, and clothes. For you already have life and a body – and they are far more important than what to eat and wear. Look at the birds! They don’t worry about what to eat – they don’t need to sow or reap or store up food – for your heavenly Father feeds them. Will all your worries add a single moment to your life?

“And why worry about your clothes? Look at the field lilies! They don’t worry about theirs. Yet Solomon in all his glory was not clothed as beautifully as they. And if God cares so wonderfully for flowers that are here today and gone tomorrow, won’t he more surely care for you…

“So don’t worry about having enough food and clothing. Why be like the heathen? For they take pride in all these things and are deeply concerned about them. But your heavenly Father already knows perfectly that you need them, and He will give them to you if you give Him first place in your life…

“So don’t be anxious about tomorrow. God will take care of tomorrow too. Live one day at a time.”

Here again the emphasis is not to worry. We are asked to consider the lilies of the field. Be a Lilly for a moment. What would you have to worry about? Plenty, if you are a good old-fashion worry-wart. “Am I growing in a good spot? Should I have opened my pedals already? What if the clouds block out the sun? What if it doesn’t rain for days? What if it rains too much? What if there is a flood? What if there is a thunderstorm and a lightning strike causes a fire? Am I as pretty as the other lilies? I wonder what they think of me. I wonder what the birds and the bees think of me. Oh no, a grasshopper.”

Sound silly? Sad to say this is reality. Don’t we all worry like this?

Finding God’s peace isn’t a secret. His scriptures tell you the formula. Turn over your worries. You don’t have to search for your worries… they are right there. Likewise, you don’t have to search for God’s peace… it’s right there. Turn over your worries.