True Light and Peace

Coming to the end of a year, a question often arises. Do we look back before looking forward, or do we face only the future closing the door on the past? To answer that question, we must ask another. Is the fear of pain from the past too great to consider when thinking about the new year? Let’s conjecture that looking back helps prepare us for the future and helps us see and experience both joyful and hard times with balance, with peace. How can these be?

Consider what John said in John 1:10. He spoke of Jesus, the “true Light,” when he said, “He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him.” The Son existed before He created the world, and yet the world did not know Him. Still, God did not count that against humanity completely. He desired to have a relationship with each person, who though sinful was loved by Him. God’s desire for a relationship led Him to plan a way for each person to receive complete cleansing from sins and renewing of a right relationship with Him. This plan is God’s provision of salvation from sin’s penalty by the pure sin sacrifice of Jesus, His Son, the Light John spoke of in John 1.

John said more in verse ten. He said, “The world did not know Him.” This word “know” comes from the Greek word ginosko. It means to realize something through personal experience. If you recall meeting a person unfamiliar to you, first you may have seen the person, but not known the person’s name. Next you would have heard the name of the person, but not met the person. The following step in an experiential relationship of knowing a person was being introduced to the person or meeting and introducing one’s self to the person. The next step of knowing this new person was to look purposefully for the person where you expected him or her to be, like at school or the shop. The following step would be to call the person to get to know him or her better. Later you may have planned together to go jointly somewhere. As you spent more time together, you learned of the person’s likes and dislikes. You strove to give him or her what he or she liked. Finally, you committed with your heart, mind, body, and soul to be best friends, husband and wife, or some other close relationship. This is what ginosko means. It means a gradual, experiential knowing someone.

Moses taught this same understanding of our verb “to know” to the Hebrews when he returned to Egypt and led them from Egypt to the Promised Land. The word he used was yada. Yada has the same meaning. Moses showed the Hebrews the power of his God when he proclaimed the plagues over Egypt. Next, he showed them the cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night telling them it was God’s presence protecting and guiding them. The Hebrews learned to recognize and expect God in those ways. As Moses set up a tent of tabernacle wherever they encamped, the people learned that meeting with God is real. He is as near as your own being and as far away as the heavens. They saw Moses’ face glowing from being in the presence of God’s glory. Moses continued to make God known to the Israelites throughout His forty years as their leader. By the time the Israelites entered the Promised Land, they knew God and covenanted with Him that He would be their sole God and they would be His people. The Israelites came to know God experientially, too.

This understanding of “knowing” is what John meant when he said, “The world did not know Him (Jesus).” Through the Old Testament period, the Jews had the commandments of God, which were to lead them to Him to have a relationship with Him. Still, the Jews often strayed from a relationship with God. They sinned, and He disciplined them. The Israelites enemies captured, scattered, and/or took some of them into captivity. Their national land size decreased. The Israelites worshiped other gods. Finally, during the 400 years before Christ’s birth, silence reigned over the land when no prophets of God spoke for Him to the Israelites. “The world did not know Him.” John was right. Even the Jews did not know Jesus. “Jesus came to His own (the Jews), and they did not know Him,” John said in verse eleven.

We each need to consider our first question and answer it for ourselves. Do we look back before looking forward, or do we face only the future closing the door on the past? Knowing God is not just an intellectual action. It is a response of faith and acceptance of Christ, the One who made God known. When we consider our first question, we must decide if we know God through Jesus Christ. Can you hear His questions?

“Did you know Me when happiness came to you this year? Did you seek Me to thank Me for what I did for you and for being in a relationship with you? Did you seek to use the blessing I gave you for My purposes or did you withhold it?”

“Did you know Me when the dark abyss knocked at your door? Did you seek Me and My will or did you turn your back on Me doubting My love for you?”

In each of these situations, you can do God’s will. What is His will? That we know Him, love Him, and show our love of Him by our obedience to Him. That we glorify Him, not ourselves or what we own, will do, or will become. Oswald Chambers surmised that if we follow God’s will and experience pain, then we are being pulled by other things and God. We are torn in two. Chambers says that comes from lack of trusting God to take care of us. Pain, also, comes to grow us. God allows pain to occur. Sometimes we grow more when walking through pain. When Peter saw Jesus walking on the water in the storm, he immediately climbed from the boat and walked on the water toward Jesus. While he kept his eyes on Jesus and not the storm-tossed waves, he walked. When Peter took his eyes off Jesus, he sank. (Matthew 14:22-33)

God allows storms to grow us. We have a choice in how we will approach each storm. Will we trust God and walk while keeping our eyes on Him, or will we take our eyes off God and flounder? How well we know God, ginosko, determines the answer to this question. If you only know God when someone points out what He did, then you might succumb to the storm. If you know God as your personal Savior and have a deep, personal relationship with Him through regular Bible reading and studying, praying, and listening to Bible teaching and preaching, then you will grow stronger in the Lord as you walk with Him. A close relationship with God includes loving Him and doing His will. Paul said in Romans 8:28, “We know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.” From this close relationship with Him, trust grows. When trust grows, then the peace of God, given through Christ becomes part of a person’s life through the joys and trials. Jesus spoke of this peace He offers in John 14:27 when he told the disciples He would soon go prepare a place for them. He said, “Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.”

As we consider the new year coming, we return to our first question. Do we look back before looking forward, or do we face only the future while closing the door on the past? Are you afraid to look back at this year when looking ahead to 2019? Do you only consider the future and slam the door on the past because you don’t want to face it again? If you know God, you do not have to fear the past or the future. You do not have to make resolutions to ensure the upcoming new year is better than this year. Instead, trust God to take care of your new year and your pain from this year. Allow yourself not to be self-sufficient, but to trust in God. How do you do this? How do you trust God with your year and your life? Get to know Him, really know Him. Knowing God starts as an intellectual exercise, but it must go beyond the mind to the heart and soul. Oswald Chambers said, “Belief is a deliberate act of my will, not an intellectual act, where I deliberately commit myself to God and obedience to Him.” (My Utmost for His Highest, December 22^nd) Truly knowing God is a deliberate act of your will. Jesus told us to love the Lord with our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Once you begin truly knowing God through seeking Him with your whole being and through belief in Jesus as your Savior, then you trust Him more and receive the peace He gives to every believer.

When you get to the start of the new year, looking back helps you recall where you walked with your eyes on Jesus and where you did not. It helps you gauge your relationship with God so you can grow closer to Him with each day of the new year. Looking back at the last year helps you see where you had peace because of knowing God.  It helps you see where you did not have peace because you tried to manage in your own strength. You can experience peace in the new year when life is stormy and when calm. Knowing and trusting God through Jesus Christ gives peace for all situations.

Are you ready to slam the door on this year thinking next year has to be better? The new year can be better if you seek the Lord to know Him with your heart, soul, and mind, and obey Him. Knowing and trusting God does not mean you will not experience storms. It means you can live with peace during the storms.

Knowing God grows trust and gives peace.

"Twas the Night After Christmas

‘Twas the night after Christmas.

When candles and flick’ring lights went out,

Presents unwrapped and carols sung,

No one gaily dancing about.

Trees’ piney branches drop needles;

Winter wreaths and flowers droop.

Cinnamon candles still alight.

Mothers make second day soup.

Conversations tell of wishes met,

Children’s racing dreams came true.

Paper and boxes lie empty

Revealing the special day is through.

In the corner one thing lingers

Wrapped merrily with vibrant bow.

Not one person has beheld it,

That the kindly Giver did bestow.

Hidden among the shredded paper

Lay the gift desired above all;

This gift so often forgotten

Yet most important though unheeded its call.

Nothing shiny, nor newly bought,

But a precious gift given free,

The breath of heaven come down

As the gift given for those who believe.

Neither under the green fir tree,

Nor atop the grandest of thrones,

This present of Holy Father

Born in the humblest of abodes.

The child born that holy Christmas night

Laid under the star’s shining gleam

Lived and died within humanity’s vision

Raised up willingly on a tree.

How fitting we yearly put up a tree

Place a star for each to remember

The stripped tree on which He hung

And died for all to enter.

With this gift no paper remains;

No day after blues, no gift unclaimed.

With this gift, joyful carols still peal

Laughter and joy eternal remain.

Candles and lights shine brightly still

While nature lives yet to proclaim

The glories of God on the throne;

His mercy washes out the stain.

‘Twas the joyous night after Christmas

Gaiety danced because of His love.

Laughter echoed, whispers shouted

Each telling of His love from above.

--Gail M. Suratt Davis

Trusting Peace

"Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” John 14:27 (NASB)

So often we fail in having/experiencing peace where we have no control over a situation or outcome. Yes, we believed in Jesus for our salvation and we have peace about our sins and salvation, but as we grow, we find other areas of our life that we withhold from God, maybe not intentionally, but withheld it is. How do we know we do this? We are frantic, agitated, and have no peace and no rest. We scramble trying to make “it” work or trying to change an outcome. We worry about a person, a job, a home, anything really. This shows us we are not at peace. It shows we have not given everything to God to take care of. We haven’t entrusted that person, situation, or thing into His care wanting His perfect will. Why? We are afraid and don’t trust God. We are afraid pain may be involved-pain in our hearts. We are afraid God won’t give us what we want.

This fear, this being afraid, does not come from God, but from Satan. He uses our humanness to desire things knowing they contradict God’s perfect will for our lives. Satan uses our human frailness of desire to lead us not to trust God completely. He leans into us and we lean away from God. Fear becomes a resident emotion. It stays until we trust God and give to Him that part of our lives-the person, situation, or thing with which we wrestle for our own outcome. To grasp the peace of God, we must let go of our desire for these finite things and instead desire God, trust Him and hold onto Him. We should pray for the strength to grasp the peace of God. God’s peace is everlasting and is not fleeting like the peace the world gives. Getting that thing, conquering that situation, or gaining that person’s trust, allegiance, and/or covenant gives peace only for a time, not for eternity. Fear then will return. If we grasp onto God by trusting Him in that situation instead of trying to take care of it ourselves, then God’s peace given to us will carry us through as we trust Him and follow Him with obedience.

Often it seems easier to get the peace the world offers because we can work at it for ourselves. The work ethic has taught us self-sufficiency. “Why ask God for something I can do myself,” is often what we think. When we do this, we make ourselves our god instead of seeking God’s will and letting Him provide what we need and sometimes what we want. When we gain what we want through the actions of our own hands, we have peace, but it doesn’t last. We realize too late we didn’t seek God, trust Him, and get His peace. It seems hard to keep hold of the trust in God that gives His peace. Our trust is imperfect; yet we say, “But I trust Him, I trusted Him for my salvation. Doesn’t that mean I trust Him?” Trust in God grows in us as we seek Him and His perfect will. God permits us to make decisions. Those times of decision are where we can exercise trust in Him, grow more like Christ, and gain peace.

How do we do trust God more? How do we re-orient our minds so that we seek God first instead of striving for ourselves to gain what we want? We must go back to the time of our salvation and then walk through our memories recalling the times God worked in our lives. These spiritual markers remind us of who God has been for us, what characteristics of God we saw at work in each of those situations. To trust God for our current situation(s), we must remember His love, grace, and mercy that provided salvation for us. He still loves us and wants good for us. Paul stated this same thing in Romans 8:28 when he said, “And we know that God causes all things to work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.”

As we continue our walk through our memory garden of spiritual markers, we arrive at a marker that reminds us of God’s power, might and dominion. That marker came from the moment we recognized God created us with His creative power and provided for and protected us with His mighty hand. He is greater and mightier than all things created. That is when we also realized He is Ruler; He has dominion over all. We realized we could trust Him to do what He said He would do. We realized He would take care of all our needs. Now we must take that trust that comes from believing these things and more. Don’t let it be hidden from our hearts and minds. Receive God’s peace because of it. He is Lord over all. Nothing defeats Him or surprises Him.

God already has the plan to take care of our situations for which we thought we had to strive. We must trust His heart and receive the peace He gives through His indwelling Holy Spirit. Remember, Jesus said to His disciples in John 14 He would send His Spirit to teach and bring to remembrance all He said. The Holy Spirit is the Helper. He will remind us of God’s truth.

Trusting God and receiving His peace sounds easy when we step back to gain perspective. That process of stepping back from our situation is the first step toward peace. Our humanness gets in the way of seeing and/or obeying God and skews our perspective if we don’t step back. When we step back, we realize we are not the god of our lives. We realize we will not receive lasting peace if we seek our own will. When we step back, we recognize God is bigger than our circumstance and our desires. These do not define or limit Him. He is still Master and defines and limits our situation. God provides the correct way and that gives perfect peace. Doing this, stepping back and letting God take control of the situation, grows our trust in Him. It gives us another spiritual marker upon which to look back in the future to remind us of when God led the way, gave us the better way, and gave us lasting peace.

Having peace requires effort on our part. That effort is stepping back and trusting God’s perfect will to effect the best plan for our situation. Christ offers peace. He said in John 14:27, “Peace I give you.” We must accept and grasp Christ’s peace by stepping back and letting God be Lord of our lives. We are each works in progress. None of us on this side of heaven is completely remade into the image of God. We are daily being made more like Jesus. We must daily set our hearts on things above where Christ is seated at the right hand of God (Colossians 3:1). We must take to heart, and put into our minds and spirits, the final phrase of John 14:27. He said, “Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” Jesus gives peace, lasting peace, unlike what the world gives. Will we step back from our situations, see God as our Lord, the mighty, powerful Ruler, and trust and obey Him in the situation? We should not trust in ourselves to deliver us from our situations and desires, but rather we should trust in God who raises the dead, creates all things, and loves and saves us from our sins. (2 Corinthians 1:8-10) Trusting and obeying God gives perfect, lasting peace.

“Trust and obey for there’s no other way to be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”