“Yahweh
Shalom”
The
LORD is our Peace
Yahweh
Shalom – The LORD is peace.
The
Jews greeting, for hello and good-bye is Shalom-Shalom.
I’m told by a missionary friend of ours that the deeper meaning of
this greeting is Peace on the inside and Peace on the outside.
The
English word peace can conjure up many different meanings if we were to ponder
it’s meaning to us.
Perhaps we might say: peace
is when all the children are sleeping.
Peace is when there is no outer conflict or worrisome circumstances
gnawing at our brain; Peace is a state of inner calm, etc. These ideas and many more are included
in “Shalom”, but Shalom goes beyond this.
Shalom
is ‘wholeness’: that is, being all together
Shalom
is ‘completeness’: that is, nothing lacking; finished!
Shalom
is ‘perfection’: that is, mature
Shalom
is ‘safety’: that is, the absence of danger
Shalom
is ‘wellness’: that is, a state where there is not vulnerability to
be other than 100% okay!
When
we think of these inclusions of the word Shalom, the Title of God, “Yahweh
Shalom”- The LORD is peace becomes more meaningful for us.
In Yahweh Shalom, we can depend on God being
WHOLLY peaceful for us; His peace for us lacking
NOTHING; His Peace being
perfect; His peace as a place to hide in safety;
His Peace as a state where
I no longer am vulnerable.
JESUS is our PRINCE of PEACE!
In Judges 6:1-24 we would find an account of God’s people in misery. Here they are, living in the promised
land but not enjoying the promised blessings that accompanied arriving to
this place: milk, honey, wheat,
barley, peace and prosperity. They
have lived in bondage for 400 yrs., God delivered them out of bondage and
were free, but they were not at peace.
What happened? They had
taken with them their idols; idols that took the place of
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worshiping the True God, the God that had
delivered them from bondage. God allowed them to be oppressed for seven
years by the Midianites.
Finally they cried out to the Lord for Mercy, for relief! God hears them and sends them Gideon,
a mighty man of God who delivers them from this oppression and defeats the
Midianites with just 300 men.
APPLICATION: What
has this old testament story have to do with us?
We, who have accepted God’s salvation, have made PEACE with God; Romans
5:1 says, “Therefore
being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:”
we have been freed, like the Israelites, from bondage, the bondage of sin.
Our new life in Christ means there is no longer a need to be walking
like the “old man” we were before salvation. If we are…could we, like these
Israelites be holding on to worldly baggage that keeps us from the PEACE and
newness of life God offers us?
God offers us “exceeding great and precious promises;”
2
Peter 1:4 says, that
“by these ye might be
partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust.”
God offers us promises of His Presence, as in Isaiah
43:2 where He says,
“When thou passest through
the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow
thee: when thou walkest
through the fire, thou
shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.”
We have the promise of His Grace being all we need for all difficulties
and also that His Grace is sufficient for us. (2 Corinthians 12:9)
Q: Are
we enjoying the promised blessings that are ours?
Our blessings are unlimited.
We know this because Jesus said that “all things are possible to him
that believeth.” (Mk. 9:23)
Answered prayer is ours; faith to remove mountains; spiritual fullness,
if we would seek Him – John 6:35; spiritual light, John 12:46;
and the list goes on.
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Galatians
Ephesians
Q: Is
there anything STANDING in the way of our having this
PEACE?
Perhaps we are anxious or frustrated? Perhaps we have taken on more responsibility
than God intended us to take on? If this were the case, then, perhaps,
we didn’t get His direction on what He would have us to do or not to do. Perhaps we are saddened by
a circumstance? Have we left
it with the LORD and have we truly acknowledged His Sovereignty in the matter? It is not enough to only KNOW He’s
in control of all things, it still requires a response from us to take our
hands, our hearts, our eyes off of different situations and leave it to God’s
discretion and direction. Not
always so easy to do, is it?
Be anxious for nothing but by prayer and supplication with
thanksgiving, let your
request be made known unto God and the PEACE of God that passes all understanding
shall keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. (Philippians 4:6)
It is when we make up our mind to NOT be anxious that
we will have His Peace.
I don’t know about you, but I can come to the Lord and confess my anxiety,
quote verses to myself, pray and think that I’m not doing it right because
sometimes I don’t feel free of the anxiety. It’s not always so.
Sometimes, it is that in having done what God has told us to do, we
continue to be attacked by the enemy and we have all we can do to keep focused
on the Lord. It is not necessarily
that we have held onto the anxiety.
A good guard against having our PEACE disrupted is found in
Isaiah
26:3:
“Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee:
because he trusteth in thee.”
Popular not too long ago was this saying:
“No GOD?” No Peace
Know God. Know Peace
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In closing let’s look at the words to the
hymn: LIKE A RIVER GLORIOUS
Verse 1 -
Tells us What peace is like:
Like a river glorious Is God’s perfect
peace,
Over all victorious in its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth fuller ev’ry day,
Perfect
yet it groweth Deeper all the way.
CHORUS:
Stayed
upon Jehovah, Hearts are fully blest~
Finding
as He promised, Perfect peace and rest.
Verse 2 - Tells what this peace means to us:
Hidden in the hollow of His blessed hand,
Never foe can follow, Never traitor stand;
Not a surge of worry, not a shade
of care,
Not a blast of hurry touch the spirit
there.
Verse 3 - Shows us the God of Peace in our lives:
Ev’ry
joy or trial falleth from above,
Traced
upon our dial by the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully
All for us to do~
They who trust Him wholly Find Him wholly true.
Conclusion:
[B] Jeremiah 29:11-14 -
“For I know the plans I have for you…” God’s plans with a promise for us!
Let’s make it a priority to pray for the peace of Christ to rule in our hearts.
Mercedes Whelan