Peace that Cannot be Shaken
How easily is our sense of peace disrupted?
Verse of the Day
“Though the mountains move and the hills shake, my love will not be removed from you and my covenant of peace will not be shaken,” says your compassionate Lord.”
Isaiah 54:10 CSB
Today’s Devotional
This verse comes from the book of Isaiah. The people of Israel are in captivity in a foreign land. God uses Isaiah to remind them of His love. I read one theologian’s description of this section of Isaiah. He called it “virgin honey” because the depiction of God’s love is so pure and sweet. Here’s what happens when God’s love is unleashed: What was lost will be found. What was broken will be mended. What was impossible will turn out better than you could have imagined. What made you feel shame will be wiped out, left only with rejoicing.
While Isaiah is describing the return of Israel from exile and captivity, this sounds to me like a description of finding Jesus. Not only finding Him, but shifting your whole life to focus on Him. It changes everything.
God is beautifully reminding us (yet again) that there is NOTHING that can separate us from his love. Sound familiar? Romans 8:38-39 says, “For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
So the physical world could collapse, and God will still love you. Even better, his covenant of peace will not be shaken, or altered, or destroyed, or revoked. What is God’s covenant of peace? I refer you back to day 1 from this month: “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us.”. You and God are at peace if you have faith that Jesus is God’s Son and was raised from the dead for your forgiveness. It’s a peace that cannot be shaken.
I can’t say that I always remember that God and I are at peace and on the same team. Sometimes I fight him. Sometimes I think he is punishing me. Sometimes I just doubt. But the more I learn about God and spend time in relationship with him, the more I learn that most of my problems come from faulty perceptions.
Can you imagine having to be reminded every day that you are an American? You live here and work here, you even have some kind of ID that proves your citizenship, but you require constant reassurance that you really are an American and that you get to enjoy all of the benefits of your citizenship. That’s what I feel like God is telling me today. ’Daughter, you are a citizen of heaven. You are my family. Nothing can remove or diminish my love for you. Nothing can separate you from my peace….except you. As far as I, God, am concerned, you and I are a team. The more you participate WITH me, the better your life will be.”
I believe that peace comes when we remember how much we are loved, that our relationship with God is reconciled, and that our citizenship is in heaven. It’s a peace that is ours if we will claim it. It’s a covenant of peace, a holy contract, that God is extending to us that nothing in this world can revoke. It is, perhaps, the only kind of peace that will last. May we claim the peace of God today.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
Do you ever doubt the love and peace of God? If so, what makes you doubt? What would your life be like today if you really believed that God’s love and peace are fully yours? Can you identify any area where your perceptions are off? Ask God for a fresh revelation in that area today.