DIY Toolbox- Fix Your Broken Peace Part II

I was enjoying a lazy Saturday morning warmly tucked in bed when my daughter burst into the room and shook me urgently. What was the emergency?

 Daughter: Dad, I want you to come downstairs.

 Me: Why, has mum come back (from jogging)?

Just in case you are wondering, earlier on, I had a small argument earlier with wife about my fitness habits (or lack thereof). Since I’ve never won a morning argument, I mumbled something about being as fit as a fiddle. She retorted, rather angrily, with; “…indeed you are pure muscle!”. I took this as compliment and promptly drifted back to random Corona thoughts.

Anyway, my conversation with daughter continued unabated;

Daughter: No dad, just come downstairs!

Me: No, this is my morning to rest.

Now, I don’t know whether this describes it properly, but without uttering another word, she gave me a look that lay somewhere between pleading and a warning (not sure how women do it).

I promptly got out of bed.

I got downstairs just as wife was getting back from her morning jog. All was calm and good but when I turned to the dining area; Lo! It was a sight to behold!

The table had been decked out with beautiful Maasai lessos. All manner of cutlery was laid out in thoughtful order and as soon as my son saw us enter the room, he started playing a beautiful tune on his guitar. My daughter was busy trying to usher us to the table.

They had prepared a grand breakfast for us and were both dressed in school uniform (to substitute for a waiter’s outfit). The food was the usual fare, but we had high drama when my son decided to make omelets and deliver them to the table on the edge of a fork!

All in all, it was a lovely breakfast punctuated with wildly hilarious moments.

  

Later I pondered the whole scenario. The children had no doubt stretched every ounce of their creative minds to come up with the layout, the music and the omelets. I was particularly struck by how different their thoughts were from mine that morning.

I woke up to corona thoughts. They woke up to scheme and plan a grand surprise. I stayed up worrying about some of the post-corona plans I had. They had slept blissfully and woken up in peace and got to work.

It made me think about the peace that God gives and some of the things that the bible says about this peace. 

1.     The peace of God is one of the promises God made to you in times of trouble.

“I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart. And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give. So, don’t be troubled or afraid. (NLT) John 14:27 

2.     The peace of God is given to us conditionally, but the conditions are not hard to keep. I come back to this later a little below.

  

3.     The Spirit of God will keep you from anxiety if you allow Him to occupy your daily thoughts. Seek God in regular prayer. Set a time and a place to pray daily.

 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7

4.     In some places, the peace of God is given to us as like an imperative. God requires it of us almost as if it were a command. We glorify God (and weaken Satan) when we appropriate God’s peace in our hearts.

And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace. And always be thankful. Colossians 3:15 

A good example is when God made it very clear on what state of mind He required of Joshua;

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid;do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

Part I of this series had brought up some questions from the scripture;

You keep him in perfect peace

   whose mind is stayed on you,

    because he trusts in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isaiah 26:3-4

It seems from this passage that the peace of God is a blessing tied to a condition (as are many other blessings in scripture). In this case, the peace of God only comes to the one ‘whose mind is stayed on God’.

Since we want peace of mind and less of corona thoughts, how do we keep our minds stayed on Him? And how can we learn to trust God?

As is often the case, the answer can be found in another passage of scripture.

James 4:7-10 says;

Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist

the devil, and he will flee from you.

Come near to God and he will come

near to you. Wash your hands, you

sinners, and purify your hearts, you

double-minded.

Grieve, mourn and wail. Change your

laughter to mourning and your joy to

gloom.

Humble yourselves before the Lord,

and he will lift you up.

If we take this passage to be part of our toolbox, we can pull out a piece of equipment that God has provided from His word. The first essential item for fixing our broken peace is this:

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

How does this work out?

I’d say that the first step to peace of mind is keeping in step with God. At this time, God is saying; “Do not do social distancing with me, draw near to me and I will draw near to you”.

Essentially, this is an invitation to friendship. Great friendships do not come about magically. They are based on a closeness and mutual trust which develops over time. Useful friendships are built consciously and determinedly over the ups and downs of life.

However, before I go any further, let me say one thing on God's love that we may all agree on and one other thing on God's friendship that we may not all agree on;

1.     God’s love is unconditional- I suppose we all agree on this?

2.     God’s friendship is conditional-I guess we will not all agree about this.

Since there is no sense in belaboring a point which majority agree on, let me dwell on the second point-God’s friendship is conditional.

Allow me to start with an example.

I have a certain friend in diaspora (I hope he considers me a friend because if he doesn’t… 🤷🏾‍). We have some peculiar things going on in this friendship, but I love it!

§     He never calls. I always call.

§     I do not know how he looks like now because I have only seen him twice in fifteen years.

§     My sincere hope is that we can remain good friends into old age.

§     I consider him a much better man than I am. He is like a mine of wisdom and information that I can never exhaust and,

§     I believe our friendship has remained strong because I share with him deeply personal issues. In the many years of remote closeness, I have never regretted a call. They always leave me refreshed and with a better perspective on difficult life issues.

This is an imperfect but true picture. I do hope that it gives you the idea. You see my friend, none of us can claim to have seen God much like I cannot claim to know how my friend looks like now. Our friendship is rich because I keep calling and he is always available to listen. If I stopped calling or if my friend suddenly became unavailable, the relationship would die.

I think it is the same thing with God. The scripture tells us that we can have a meaningful and joyous relationship with Him even if we have never seen Him.

Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy,  now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. 1 Peter 1:8-9 

The scripture also tells us that to keep up a meaningful friendship with God, we need to keep our end of the bargain. The bible tells us that God has already made the first move (Romans 5:8, Titus 3:3-7). He expects a response. Scripture is clear that to have any meaningful closeness with God, you must make ‘regular calls’ on Him..  In other words;

Come near to God and he will come near to you.

A Christian teacher described this coming near like this;

This drawing(coming) near is not a physical act. It's not building a tower of Babel, by your achievements, to get to heaven. It's not necessarily going to a church building. Or walking to an altar at the front. It is an invisible act of the heart. You can do it while standing still, or while lying in a hospital bed, or while sitting in a pew listening to a sermon. Drawing near is not moving from one place to another. It is a directing of the heart into the presence of God. -John Piper

Jesus said some interesting things regarding friendship with God. He said;

I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master's business. Then He added;

Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you. John 15:15

Drawing from our toolbox, let me say this;

§     The first step to finding peace in tumultuous times brothers and sisters, is to be friends with God.

§     To be friends with God means to keep in step with Him.

§     To keep in step with Him ladies and gentlemen, means that you seek to know the business of God on earth and in your life. Draw near to Him in prayer and in the pursuit of His word. Indeed, this is the true mark of friendship-you know my business and I know yours (ama namna gani?). Are you aware of God’s business on earth and in your life?

§     Instead of worrying, wake up and pray (or go jogging at least). And pray simply to know God and to let Him know you. Do on the spot prayers, do scheduled prayers and do on-the-go silent prayers. Read from His word daily. Get His attention regularly. That is how great friendships are made.

So then; 1st tool out of the toolkit = Come near to God, and He will come near to you.

If you are like me then you probably love the Psalms in times of uncertainty or anxiety. When it is not quite clear how you should pray, I urge you to try them. Pray them out loud as if you are the one who wrote them. King David did this to great effect.

Psalm 130-135 is a good place to start drawing near to Him. He will not disappoint. Make God your friend today!