Wednesday, January 24, 2018

Shalom: Peace be Still – Part 1


This week, Michael writes: A “Sage” is wise through reflection and experience. They are discerning, perceptive and prudent. A sage is a man or woman of experience and wisdom and they have the scars to prove it.  As a young person, they've been through ordeals to understand the meaning of what it means to be a man or woman. Their experience as a youth has taught them that the world is a competitive place. As an adult, they have been through many battles and they has been wounded by the world. Although scarred by trials and tribulations, they have surrendered their life to be healed by the Great Physician – Jesus Christ.

Most people are stuck in woundedness, inflicted by the world. Jesus Christ is the one who heals. For healing through Christ, men and women must come to the end of themselves. A humble and a contrite heart is the requirement to come to the throne of grace. People are in search of peace. When Jesus walked out of the garden of Gethsemane, he understood the meaning of perfect peace. When he went there to pray, his heart was unsettled. When we acknowledge that we need God, we can pray with an earnest and fervent heart. Jesus went to the garden distressed to the point of sweating great drops of blood. His prayer was "if there be any other way, let this cup of suffering, separation, and death pass from me."  Three times God told His Son, "No."  

Walter A. Henderson wrote a book, "Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man." He had a six year old son who needed a bone marrow transplant. They had to take a sample of marrow from his hip bone. His son cried out, "It's so painful.  Daddy, can you make it stop?" When his dad said no, he could only hold to his daddy's neck in his pain. God had to tell his son Jesus, there's no other way than to drink the cup of suffering for the salvation of the world. God uses what the world considers a defeat and turns it into victory for his purpose. This is what God did with Joshua before the fall of the walls of Jericho. He did this with Gideon and his small army. God always culls the numbers so that the victory can be in His power alone. If we grow faint with lesser trials, how shall we endure through the battles?  Jeremiah, God's prophet needed to be tested through trials also.  

Jesus said to his disciples, let's get in the boat and go to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. He was fast asleep when a violent storm came up. The disciples were terrified that their boat would sink. They woke Jesus and he said, "O ye of little faith."  The Lord Jesus did not say, “Let’s get in the boat and drown half way across.” Then Jesus said, "Peace be still."  Immediately the wind and waves ceased and there was a great calm.  The disciples said to themselves, "Who is this that even the wind and waves obey him?"

Let’s continue Michael’s message on the Peace of Christ in the next post.

In Christ, Brian

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