Shalom Shalom
Now may the Lord of peace Himself grant you His peace at all times and in every way [that peace and spiritual well-being that comes to those who walk with Him, regardless of life’s circumstances]. The Lord be with you all. 2 Thessalonians 3:16
It is commonly known that Shalom means peace and is often said as a greeting or a good-bye, and a declaration over another, and I love this version of this verse above.
Peace is an interesting thing. To be in the Father’s perfect peace does not always mean the absence of conflict. This understanding comes with maturity. Being in His peace and His rest means we trust in Yahweh God. We can look all through scripture and find examples of those who thought they would find peace outside the Father, but it never panned out the way they thought it would.
Jonah thought he would find peace running away from Yahweh’s instruction, even Abraham thought he might find peace by listening to his wife and producing an heir with her servant, and Paul thought he might find peace by killing those who professed to be followers of Christ. I think we can all agree, none of these events produced peace.
Interestingly, all these people found the Shalom of the Father by doing one thing- listening to Yahweh God’s word. Jonah did go to Ninevah even though it did not look good, Abraham did have faith even when it looked impossible, and Paul demonstrated how to live the life of a follower of Christ regardless of the persecution he faced.
Others like Joseph (Jesus’ earthly father) found peace in God’s word to him even in the cultural challenges, Esther found peace in her God while being threatened with death and saved her people among great opposition, and John the Baptist had great peace knowing he was preparing the way while conflict was all around him.
Perfect peace, Shalom, is being filled, complete and wholly at rest, in the Father. It is being full of joy and knowing that He works all things for your good if your trust is in Him, and you align with Him and obey His word to you. What the great men and women of faith that we read about daily in our bibles learned (some easier than others!) is that Shalom, the peace that passes understanding, is in Him and nowhere else. It is steady, not high and low. It is joy not just happiness. That is Shalom.
Consider today the amazing life that we get to walk with the Father. Consider the sheer awe-inspiring fact that it is His breath in our lungs, His DNA in our veins, and remember, He sent us into this earth specifically for this time. He knew exactly what He was doing when He sent one of you, and one of me.
Shalom, Shalom.