REST IN PEACE. Why is it that we wait until a person is dead and buried to engrave that epithet over their resting place? I suppose it comes from the understanding that all that can interrupt peace has now been removed from a person’s life. It is now, in death, that one can truly be at peace.
This is not the life which the Lord, Jesus Christ, desires for us. He desires for us to live in a life of peace that was not just “there and then,” but “here and now.” The peace that the world brings is a peace that is at best transient and situational, and at worst never truly possible. But the peace that Jesus promises, and provides, is unlike that of the world. It is a peace that is always available and not determined by our circumstances. It is, as the Apostle Paul writes, a peace that surpasses comprehension. (Philippians 4:7)
The Hebrew word, shalom, best describes this peace which our Lord offers to us. It is more than just the absence of trouble, it is a well-being of our soul in the very midst of turmoil and trouble, and for this reason is transcends the world’s ability to understand it. Like Sabbath, this peace is a gift which the Lord graciously grants to us out of His abundant goodness. And, like Sabbath, it has at its basis, trust in the living God.
As we learn to trust God, we learn to embrace the greatness of His gifts to us. As long as we continue to endeavor in our own wisdom and strength we will miss the deep and abiding peace that comes from the Lord and we will be stuck with the weak peace of the world.
Trust in the Lord, and know peace.