“So Jesus said to them again, “Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.””John 20:21 NKJV
Peace in the Midst of Hardship
Not long after Jesus’ resurrection, His disciples hid in a locked room, fearing that the same people who crucified Jesus would come and arrest them. It’s in the midst of their fearful circumstances that Jesus appears to them collectively, speaking words of peace over them.
But He doesn’t stop there.
He then tells His disciples that He is sending them out into the world. This means they are going to have to leave the safety of their locked room. But although their future is unknown, they are known by the One who holds the future. So wherever they go, and whatever they face, Jesus’ words will remain true: peace will be with them.
And Jesus continues to offer us this same peace.
We will all face hardship and difficulties. We all will go through seasons where we endure intense pain caused by struggling relationships, struggling economies, and struggling health crises.
But God’s peace isn’t based on our feelings or circumstances, which is why it’s something we can consistently experience.
God’s peace sometimes feels like a calmness in the midst of an anxious situation, or hope despite a discouraging diagnosis. It might look like unexplainable joy, or an unshakeable feeling that, regardless of what happens, God is still in control.
When our world rages, or the doctor shares something alarming, or the news reports are terrifying, God’s peace enables us to walk forward with confident assurance that the One who gives us peace goes with us. Jesus might not remove us from difficult situations, but He will always help us walk through them.
Outside pressures don’t have the power to take away God’s perfect peace that’s given to us through Jesus our Savior.
So take a few minutes today and thank Jesus for His peace that passes all understanding. Talk to Him about any concerns or worries you’re currently experiencing, and as you give them over to Him, envision Him saying to you, “peace be with you.”
Be encouraged: Jesus might not remove you from difficult situations, but He will always help you walk through them.
Share your faith: God sent Jesus and Jesus has sent us—to tell the world about His love and grace!
Share your faith: You don’t have to be pushy or know all the answers. Simply ask God to lead you as you share the hope you have in Christ.
Prayer: Jesus, thank You for calling me by name and sending me in Your name. I want to confidently follow You, but sometimes I struggle to see myself the way You see me. When I get overwhelmed by insecurities, remind me that I belong to You. Fill me with Your peace so that I joyfully and boldly go wherever You send me. Amen.
Note after sharing the devotional: as I was re-reading the blurb above, what came to mind was Jesus’s earlier statements about having peace in Him, ahead of His passion and crucifixion. Here are just some of these verses/passages:
“Let not your heart be troubled; you believe in God, believe also in Me. In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also. And where I go you know, and the way you know.” John 14:1-4, NKJV
Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27, NKJV
“If the world hates you, you know that it hated Me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love its own. Yet because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you. Remember the word that I said to you, ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will also persecute you. If they kept My word, they will keep yours also. John 15:18-20, NKJV
These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.” John 16:33, NKJV
Coming off yesterday’s post, talking about getting myself to not react emotionally, even that has already been put to the test repeatedly. Today, it’s processing a potential change to a schedule related to my health and wellness that will be moderately significant. (I say “moderately” because it’s not a cancellation; it is a timeline change. But this timeline change is dependent on another change on which I am facing needing to embark.) As part of trying (and sometimes failing) to seek God even further these next few weeks, the few above passages I felt led to add contain some truths that I need to grab hold of:
- Let not your heart be troubled.
- Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you.
- Let not your heart be troubled (again), neither let it be afraid.
- [Y]ou are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world.
- If the world hates you, [just] know that it hated Me before it hated you.
- These things I have spoken to you, that in Me you may have peace.
- In the world you will have tribulation; but be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.
Most, if not all, of the complaining I’ve done over the years is rooted in wanting a different and “better” life than the one I’ve had. I wanted a good family of origin with a lot of money and a lot of friends and a lot of fun times. Then, as an adult, I wanted the wife, kids, house, and money, still with a lot of friends and a lot of fun times. I’ve gotten some of these things, but not many, and I’ve had to experience and somehow survive many things I 1.) never expected to face, and 2.) didn’t want to face. Every time I reached a milestone, first whether it was another birthday (a new age), or graduating from one school and going to the next; or, as I began approaching adulthood and realizing that the previous types of milestones didn’t automatically bring the “better” that I had hoped and expected, getting saved (or at least the idea thereof), or entering and completing nine years of intensive counseling, or even getting married ... I did recognize even then at these latter stages that my life was indeed better in many ways compared with 5, 10, 20 years prior, but still not the “better” that I had envisioned.
I could go on, but the point is to look at what Jesus is saying. One way to look at it is to understand that, no matter what I do, life on earth is going to suck to a degree, because this is earth and not heaven. That has to be the baseline, because if my baseline is expecting to be rich enough to do whatever I want, whenever I want, wherever I want, all that I want, I’m going to be disappointed every time. And Jesus does not promise that type of life upon believing in Him and receiving Him as one’s King and Savior. The rewards will be primarily in heaven for those who truly believe, and less so here. It's why He also said some of the following things:
“Do not lay up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy and where thieves break in and steal; but lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. Matthew 6:19-21, NKJV
But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you. Matthew 6:33, NKJV
Additionally, His disciple Peter later on had this to say:
12 Beloved, do not think it strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened to you; 13 but rejoice to the extent that you partake of Christ’s sufferings, that when His glory is revealed, you may also be glad with exceeding joy. 14 If you are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed are you, for the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon you. On their part He is blasphemed, but on your part He is glorified. 15 But let none of you suffer as a murderer, a thief, an evildoer, or as a busybody in other people’s matters. 16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God? 18 Now
“If the righteous one is scarcely saved,
Where will the ungodly and the sinner appear?”
19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
In 2023 when I repented after having drifted from the Lord for well over a year, He brought to mind the following verse:
by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. 2 Peter 1:4, NKJV
It was a conviction not only of my immediate sin, but also of my desire and expectation of how I thought life “should” work. The word lust from the most recent cited verse had to do not only with the lust of the flesh, but also of the eyes, and of the pride of life. And to His credit (which it always is, anyway), several months after this day of conviction, I had received two images, one of a large Deep South-style house with a large living room, and the other of a rooftop party that I was invited to and in line for (and the line was going upward via an outside staircase).
But the reason I also shared the passage from Peter’s first letter is because along with God’s great and precious promises are promises of fiery trials while on earth. And it is in these times that Jesus offers His peace, not as the world gives, but of what He gives, which surpasses all human understanding (i.e. it doesn’t “make sense”) and will guard our hearts and minds through Him. (Philippians 4:7)
In short, to understand the realness His peace is to also (and possibly first) understand the realness of the hardships. In the same way, to understand the significance of the “Good News” (Jesus died on a cross for our sins and offers complete forgiveness of all our sins) means to also (and first) understand the significance of the “Bad News” (God is a holy God; we are all terrible, filthy, and unworthy sinners (myself included) who don’t deserve to be in heaven in His presence, and without that forgiveness of sins will end up in a terrible, hot, isolating, torturous place called “hell” away from Him for eternity). It’s been a very, very, very slow process, but I’m just starting to open up and accept the necessity of trials and tribulations. That means my life, except for all the times I sinned and inflicted consequences on myself, is otherwise going exactly according to plan, trials and tribulations included.
Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator. 1 Peter 4:19, NKJV
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