Are You at Peace?

This week was a hard one for many of us.  For the first time, we had an active shooter near my home town (or in the neighborhood where I grew up).  The store where my mom and I have grocery shopped many a day was the scene of another shooting and it shook me and my family up.  For what felt like an eternity, we weren’t able to confirm that all the members of the family and friends were accounted for and safe.  Between the lack of control and the sense of evil running rampant, there were some terrifying moments.  And for a moment, I took my eyes off Jesus.  I mean, I know God is in control and I know to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord…..but it’s easy to get off track in the middle of the crisis.  Yes, I prayed but I prayed in a cursory way……I knew that was what I was supposed to do, but I didn’t pray until I had peace. And that’s where I fell short.

Philippians 4 tells us in verses 6 & 7 to not worry about anything, but with prayer and petition with thanksgiving, let our requests be made known to God and the peace of God which exceeds anything we can understand will guard our hearts and our minds in Christ.  I’ve read that so many times and I know it by heart, but when I couldn’t get in touch with my mom right away (knowing that she visits the grocery store where the shooting occurred regularly), that wasn’t my first inclination.  My first inclination was worry.  

When I was able to take a breath and a step back, I did begin to pray not only for the safety of my mom but for everyone else I know who might be in that store and for those who had been injured.  It took me a minute to settle myself.  But that says to me, while I know the word and can recite it, I’m not meditating on it as I should.  If I keep my mind stayed on Jesus, He will direct me.  If I keep my mind stayed on Him, He will give me perfect peace.  

Therein lies the problem – I allowed myself to get distracted by circumstances and what was happening in that moment.  I have to remember that (as my cousin Cathy so eloquently put it) God still sits high on the Throne.  He cannot be unseated and He is in complete control.  Yes, we wonder how bad things can happen when a Holy God sits on the throne, but He gave us free will and that is what gets us in trouble.  It all goes back to the garden and sin entering the world.  Ever since, there has been evil that men do to each other.  Since God gave us free will, He is no a man that He could ever lie, so He can’t take it back.  It is up to us to surrender to His will and His way and live according to His word or not.  We choose, just like we choose to hurt each other or not.  God keeps His promises – we don’t.  God doesn’t lie – we do.  

Because He doesn’t lie, we know we can have peace if we follow God’s instructions.  My pastor said something a few weeks ago that resonated with me.  He said, if you are worried about something, you haven’t prayed enough.  I wonder how many people have begun practicing what He taught – continue to pray until God gives you peace about a situation or a person or a thing in your life.  If you’re worried about something, keep praying and petitioning and thanking God for answering your prayer.  Turn your worries into prayers.  Believe that the God of the universe is big enough to handle anything you bring to Him because He is.  

Remember He made us and everything that exists.  He can handle all our piddly problems with the snap of a finger or a word or in the blink of an eye.  We just have to trust Him to know what is best and to handle it.  The fact is that if we don’t trust Him to handle the things in our lives and we attempt to handle them ourselves, we just make the situation worse.  Let’s commit to taking our worries and concerns and anxieties to God, who loves us more than we could ever love ourselves, in prayer and thanksgiving and trust Him so that the peace of God will guard our hearts and minds.  He wants to – we just have to do what He says and let Him.