No Understanding.

 Peace. 

What an amazing word! Peace. 

Freedom from war, tranquility, mental calm, harmony - those are some of the definitions of peace.

I particularly have been fond of this Bible verse- 

Php 4:6  Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. 

Php 4:7  And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. 

The PEACE OF GOD.  A peace that PASSES ALL UNDERSTANDING.

How can a peace pass ALL understanding? A peace beyond our ability to comprehend. 

When we absolutely place all our trust, all our hope in God as a very real thing and not some will-o-the-wisp wish, is it any wonder His peace can fill us?

We don't have to comprehend it, and if we try we are placing a burden upon ourselves that is completely unnecessary.

When we pray and make supplication to God, we are not using Him as some kind of genie that grants wishes. We are not appealing to a wish fulfiller. We are not asking for something from a magical creature bent on toying with us over whether or not they will fulfil our appeal. We are not asking a being subject to mood swings. We are not talking to another person who is fallible like we are. We are TALKING to the ALMIGHTY GOD.   The ALMIGHTY GOD who knows the end from the beginning, who only ever has our eternal well-being in mind.  We have NO CLUE not a single one how any future, current, or past happenstance will affect our eternal life. WE do not know! We can only sit back with a box filled with countless puzzle pieces and think as we put them down on the table that we know where those pieces should go. We can piece together our lives and see things as they've transpired. We can even look back and say oh…when I went through that nightmare experience, that awful, terrible, horrific time in my life- I didn't know I would end up here in this place in my life.  That tragedy took place and now I can see a glimmer of perhaps why.  We only see glimmers. The ALMIGHTY GOD sees eternity. There is no cloudy glass for God, but for us it remains so. We are asked to TRUST in the ALMIGHTY GOD- this is to believe that as we suffer through the many, endless agonies of life- mental, emotional, physical, spiritual that HE KNOWS BEST! He knows beyond our COMPREHENSION!  What if, just for a moment entertain a thought that has NO rational explanation, what if all the innocents that suffer horrifically end up as eternal beings that will rise up to meet their Savior in the air one day. If that is true, is the reward of eternity worth the cost of the agonies of this temporal life whatever they may be? We know the horrors of horrors of horrors that exist in our world and every single one of those horrors is temporary to eternity. Let's go with a worst case scenario- that possibly being tortured in all ways every single day, every single hour, every single moment of a life lived for 90 years. How horrific, and yet still, temporary to eternity. Would all that horror be acceptable to gain eternity in perfect peace? Eternity… never ending life in perfect peace. Can we fathom this? We need to. We need to have the PEACE of God that passes understanding because it goes beyond everything that is here and now in our temporary home, in our temporary corruptible, mortal lives. 

Please, Lord, give us that incomprehensible peace that is Yours alone to understand. By Your mercy, grace, and love!

(Excerpt Ro. 12 E.J. Waggoner) 1800's)

Keeping the Peace. 

We are to live peaceably with all men if it be possible. But what is the limit of possibility?  Some will say that they tried to keep peace until "forbearance ceased to be a virtue," and then they paid the troublesome one in his own coin. Many think that this verse exhorts them to hold out as long as they can, and not to take part in any disturbance until they have had great provocation. But this verse says, "as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men."

That is, there is to be no trouble so far as we are concerned. We can not always keep other people from warring,  but we can be at peace ourselves. 

"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee; because he trusteth in thee." Isa. 26:3. "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."  Rom. 5:1. "Let the peace of God rule in your hearts." Col. 3:15. "And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus." Phil. 4:7. He who has this abiding peace of God will never have any trouble with people.