God’s peace to the rescue

During the pandemic, I started each day with this passage from the book of Philippians: "Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, Rejoice. Let your gentleness be known to everyone. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, 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 understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, siblings in Christ, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things. As for the things that you have learned and received and heard and noticed in me, do them, and the God of peace will be with you." (Philipians 4:4-9)

During the pandemic, many days I felt the peace I was praying for elusive, but Philippians gave me the words to express my desires to God. I experienced a lot of peace and grounding in them. What's powerful about these words is that we're not conjuring up peace within ourselves on our own, but we are asking God to bring us peace. We're confessing our desire for a peace that comes from outside of ourselves- "God's peace to the rescue". Philippians recognizes the mystery of God's peace and that how it arrives in our hearts even surpasses our human understanding! 

We've now come through the pandemic, but we continue to live amid turbulent times in our world. Take these words from Philippians into your heart. As we continue to yearn for peace and feel despair over violence and conflict, these words give voice to our desire for harmony and wholeness for everybody in our worldly home. Thank God for the words of Philippians- which ask for God's peace, but also encourage us to wait and watch for its mysterious arrival in us. And in our world. May the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, guard your hearts and and your minds in Christ Jesus.