Not Knowing = The Path to Peace
Honestly, I have been struggling lately to find peace in the Lord. There are specific things I desire to see in my life that I currently do not. Anyone relate? Waiting on the Lord for something you strongly desire can truthfully make you feel weary and in desperate need of relief and/or answers sometimes. A few nights ago, I had a bit of a troublesome revelation about my train of thought: I start to pin the answers I generate in my mind as actually being God’s answers to me, simply because my own answers come immediately and “make sense.”
I reflected on my tendency to constantly try and “make sense” of my life. In other words, if something doesn’t “make sense” to me, I leave it up to myself to make sense of it. There’s a theme here: me, myself, and I. The issue with this kind of thinking is that it’s stress-inducing and ends up leaving me with more concerns than I started with; why? It extracts faith in the Author of Life and places all bets on self just for the sake of immediate gratification. It’s dangerous to our peace when we start looking inwardly for answers/solutions when we are not omniscient or omnipresent like the Lord is.
I think peace is on the line everyday depending on where we direct our focus. We weren’t made to be independent of the Lord because we can’t stand outside of time and ourselves, foresee every single path ahead, and know which routes are truly “the best” to take – we were created to be shepherded. As a result of this shepherding, we were also created to abide in peace! Jesus says in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.”
The reason He can say this is because He IS the Author of Life, and the Creator of our inmost being (Psalm 139:13). The Lord stands outside of time and sees all human hearts. He will never force you to abide in His peace, He just hopes you will choose to receive this rest, for crying out loud. As His Word says in Isaiah 26:3, “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”
I am just not convinced the purpose of life is “getting it right” even most of the time in our faith walk, nor knowing exactly what’s coming next; in fact, this is probably why we see the fruit of so much anxiety and discord even amongst believers. I think the Lord is showing us that it’s actually about letting go of what we don’t get, and learning to abide in His grace in an ever-increasing capacity so that we may have peace. Of course, the path ahead of us won’t usually “make sense,” as we humans perceive sensibility – who really understands the way in which all things work together but the Lord anyway, who created all? Let’s let it stay that way so we can breathe, right!
This explains Scripture’s emphasis on faith and why it’s required to walk with Jesus (Hebrews 11:6). If you don’t believe His Word or who He is, not only will you never be truly content in the middle of unanswered questions or hardships, but you won’t even recognize the Lord guiding you out of those hardships and into blessing when He is.
God recognizes your faith in leaning on Him, even if it’s mustard seed-sized, and will bless it in ways you will eventually come to recognize. In the meantime, remember what you have to be grateful for as well as the people you have around you, and praise Him for at least having these things. He has a way of showing up and surprising/answering us in the most unexpected or unperceived ways when we choose to “praise Him anyway.’” In fact, this is exactly the way He designed us to live: fully abandoned to Him, constantly filled with joy as we “worry about nothing and pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6). Believe Him in your heart for whatever you’re asking for, worship, and receive His outpouring in your life as you abide in peace!
“The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know Your name put their trust in You, for You, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek You.” - Psalm 9:9-10
