Peace.
We have symbols for it.
Miss America wishes for it.
Our nation strives for it.
As individuals, we all want it.
Then why does it seem so unattainable in our daily lives? Hectic schedules, day-to-day drama, difficult situations, unreasonable people seem to get in the way of experiencing peace in our lives.
What’s the opposite of peace? Trouble. Trouble in our surroundings. Troubled hearts. Trouble resting, relaxing, sleeping.
Trouble looks like something stirred up, restless, like a whirlpool. Frenetic and crazy and exhausting.
Peace looks like something smooth and relaxing, like a gentle river. Sweet and peaceful and soothing.
I looked up the definition of whirlpool:
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Yep. That is DEFINITELY what trouble feels like.
Then I looked up the definition of river:
John 16:33 – “I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.”
He is bigger than the trouble we experience. His peace is that “abundant flow” of a river that washes over it. That sweeps it away.
I love that a river is “a large NATURAL stream of water” that empties itself into other bodies of water. Once we experience peace it bleeds out into every area of our lives. Our relationships. Our activities. Our interactions. Our attitudes. A NATURAL outflow of the peace that “transcends all understanding” (Philippians 4:7).
Our circumstances may not change. That whirlpool may still be spinning. But we don’t have to be caught in it. Our TROUBLE SHOOTER has come with His giant water gun. That river of peace that brings us up and out of the whirlpool and into that flowing place of rest.
There is a reason that the sound of flowing water is so appealing to us. It symbolizes peace and tranquility. Quiet rest. It’s a sound that makes the trouble of the world seem very far away.
Let Jesus rescue you from the whirlpool and immerse you in the river of peace. Drink its cool, clean refreshment. Splash in its sparkling waters. And float in it’s abundant, never-ending flow.
Philippians 4:6-7 – Be anxious 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 surpasses all comprehension, shall guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
