How can we find perfect peace?

This month has held the sobering reminder that 25 years have passed since 9/11.

Along with many in my generation, I can vividly remember where I was when I heard the news.

9/11 was a Tuesday. The previous Monday, I had started a new job, in a new sector, in a new city. I was in the new-to-me office, having an induction meeting with two of my new colleagues, when an American colleague came running down the corridor, screaming loudly: “OMG! A plane has just flown into the World Trade Center!”

Her words, her accent, her intonation, the panic and volume in her voice – all are indelibly etched in my memory.

This was not a movie; this was real life.

Gathering in the meeting room at the end of the corridor, I joined my new colleagues, as we crowded round the TV set in the corner, watching the news unfolding, with a palpable sense of shock and disbelief.

9/11 is a date that has been etched into our collective memory; a date when we stood in solidarity with our American friends, our fragile sense of security shattered, our world changed forever.

It’s a date when untold fear was unleashed, followed closely by the ‘War on Terror’.

Now, 25 years on, fear is still raging rampant. So is terror.

Yet in the midst of all the memories churned up by this anniversary, I’ve been sensing the Lord speaking about his antidote to fear: his perfect peace.

***

In Isaiah 26:3-4, we read this:

You will keep in perfect peace 
those whose minds are steadfast,
because they trust in you.
Trust in the Lord forever,
for the Lord, the Lord, is the Rock eternal.

As I’ve been meditating on these verses, I’ve felt the Lord encourage me to start at the end and work back to the beginning. So that’s what I’ve been doing, and here is what he’s shown me:  

• The Rock eternal

Our starting point is ‘the Lord, the Rock eternal’.

He’s not just any old rock. He is ‘the’ Rock. The Rock that is utterly immovable and unshakeable. The rock that is solid and firm.

He is also the Rock ‘eternal’. The Rock who was there at the beginning of time and who will still be there at the end of time. The Rock who is ‘the same yesterday, today and forever‘.

• Trust forever

Once we are standing firm on ‘the Lord, the Rock eternal‘, our next step is to ‘trust in the Lord forever’.

We can trust ‘in the Lord’, precisely because he is ‘the Rock‘: immovable and unshakeable, solid and firm.

• Steadfast minds

Once we are standing firm on ‘the Lord, the Rock eternal‘, and we have put our ‘trust in the Lord forever’, that’s when we become ‘those whose minds are steadfast’.

It’s not just any old part of us that becomes steadfast. It’s our ‘minds‘ specifically that become steadfast.

As Romans 12:2 says: “Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.” 

Steadfast minds are those that have been transformed and renewed. They aren’t tossed about on the waves of the world, like pieces of flotsam and jetsam. They hold fast, in trust, to the Lord.

• Perfect peace

Once we are standing firm on ‘the Lord, the Rock eternal‘, with our ‘trust in the Lord forever’, as ‘those whose minds are steadfast‘, those are the ones who the Lord promises he ‘will keep in perfect peace’.

I love how God’s peace is ‘perfect’. It’s so totally different from the world’s imperfect peace, which ebbs and flows, coming and going, depending on how we are feeling or what is happening in our lives.

As Philippians 4:7 tells us, ‘the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.‘ It’s a peace that makes no sense to those around us.

I also love how it’s a peace that’s guaranteed – and how it’s God who guarantees it.

The text tells us that God ‘will’ keep us in his perfect peace. It doesn’t say he might keep us in it, or that he will only keep us in it if certain conditions are met. It says he ‘will’ keep us in it.

And the fact he will ‘keep‘ us in it means it’s not going to suddenly disappear. It’s a peace that lasts.

***

Perhaps, like me, you’ve found your memories stirred by the 25th anniversary of 9/11.

Perhaps, like me, you need to be reminded that, no matter how much fear has been unleashed on the world over the last 25 years, God has the antidote to fear – and it’s available to all of us.

And perhaps, like me, he is simply encouraging you to read Isaiah 26:3-4, and then to listen and hear him saying:

Stand firm on me, for I am the Lord, the Rock eternal. And because I am the Lord, the Rock eternal, I am immovable and unshakeable – even though every manmade system and structure is currently shaking.

And because I am unshakeable, you can trust me. Not just today, but forever. Even though your newsfeed is full of fear, you don’t need to fear. Not if you trust me. For I am totally trustworthy.

And because I am trustworthy, your mind can be steadfast. Your thoughts can be steadfast. Your ways of thinking can be steadfast. Even though many around you may be struggling with their mental health, you can be mentally healthy because your mind is steadfast.

And because your mind is steadfast, I will keep you in perfect peace. Even though it will make no sense to those around you. For my peace surpasses all understanding. It will not suddenly stop. My peace is perfect.

Will you accept it?

As always, constructive comments are welcome below.

(Please note: This is my ‘thought for the month’ reflection for September. You can find all my ‘thought for the month’ reflections here.)

Photo from Joseph Chan via Unsplash