Read:
The Messiah is called the Prince of Peace in Isaiah 9. As with all of the names of God we have studied, it not only is a way to address God in prayer; each name is a description of who God is. He not only brings peace; he IS peace. He is Yahweh Shalom.
What brings you a sense of peace? Sitting with your family? Listening to the waves on the beach or a stream in the mountains? Working with your hands, cooking or fixing or creating? Peace is something we crave, to breathe in the midst of a chaotic world. There are many ways to find it, but in our sinful world, they are fleeting.
During a time of chaos and turmoil in the history of Israel, God called a man named Gideon to lead the people against the oppressive Midianites. The Midianites stole Israel’s harvests and allowed their own cattle and sheep to trample whatever was left. Judges 6:5 says they came like a plague of locusts. In the midst of this, as Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites, God told Gideon he would lead God’s people. Gideon was skeptical. He boldly asked God for a sign, and when Gideon realized the man before him was in fact God, he was frightened. No one could look on the face of God and live!
But God told Gideon, “Peace. Do not be afraid.” As believers and children of God, we have peace with God. We do not need to fear him. Jesus reconciled us to God; the relationship we had with God was broken, but now, through Christ we are children of God. The LORD of Peace has done everything necessary to bring us to himself, and now we are at peace.
Prayer: Dear God, you are peace itself, and because of Jesus, I can be at peace with you. Calm the turmoil and fear in my heart today. Give me the ability to breathe and to rest. Amen.