Let Not Your Heart Be Troubled
God longs for you to have compete peace. It is beyond our comprehension and blows us away when we experience it (Philippians 4:4-9). But this peace came at an incredible cost.
Born Enemy
One major hurdle will keep you from experiencing this peace. If you don’t know Him, if you have not been reconciled to Him, then you remain His enemy.
We are all born enemies of the Forever King of the universe. He Created everything and longs for the people He made to dwell with Him. But, since the first two people rejected Him as King, everyone born since has been born outside the perfect dwelling He created. The land, plants, and creatures even cry out and groan at the cost sin has had on them. People see sickness, sadness, grief, and death as a result of the price-tag of choosing our own morality and choosing ourselves to be kings and queens of our own lives.
Everyone, including you and me were born enemies of Him.
"For all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God" Romans 3:23
Ultimate Peace
But God longs to dwell with us, reconciled as friends, as family to Him. He Himself provided this peace. The only way to do so was to pay the ultimate price (Find out more in What if I Die? and Got Peace?)
For if while we were enemies we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, now that we are reconciled, shall we be saved by his life. Romans 5:10
This peace comes from having our sins forgiven and being reconciled to God. If you are still God’s enemies, find specifically how to change your status from foe of God to friend of God here: Got Peace?
The Context of the Verses
When Jesus spoke these words to His disciples, He was preparing to die for them. He was preparing to take the sin of people of all time on Himself and to pay the punishment for it so that all who trust in Him alone could be forgiven. He knew they didn’t understand yet what He was going to do. He knew they would get scared and all abandon Him. He knew that they would likely be scared out of their minds.
He also knew that He would defeat death and have forty days with them after He rose again to explain everything.
He wanted them to know He would fulfill all His promises. He is the Forever King who reconciles people to God and will restore all creation. He just had to do something they wouldn’t get for the time being, and He knew they would likely be terrified and devastated.
Our Time
We dwell in the already but not yet kingdom of the Forever King. If we know Him, He dwells in us and helps us dwell close to Him, walk in His ways, and have a vibrant, dynamic relationship with Him that lasts forever.
As His children, He offers us the comfort of His presence as we experience the sickness, isolation, suffering, sorrow, and death that has come as a result of sin. These things grieve Him even more than they do us.
Comfort For Us
You may be experiencing the fear of how you will pay to feed your children. You may be grieving the loss of your spouse who was whisked away in an ambulance you couldn’t follow and died alone in a hospital bed. You may be sitting silently in your nursing home bed, feeling your throat swell and a fever heat up your brow and wondering if you will ever see your children and grandchildren again. You may just be sitting at home wondering who you will never have the chance to speak to again.
The world and all that it is full of gives us ample reason to fear.
I encourage you to grieve and trust- not fear.
Grieve with God who grieves with you and allow Him to comfort you as no one else can.
As we wonder how long before He keep the rest of His promises and return, He extends one arm motioning toward Him “Come to me!,” while the other arm holds back His wrath against the sin and rebellion of the people of the earth.
One day, perhaps very soon, he will drop his arms (as Pastor Jared put it). And the full weight of His wrath will poured out in justice on the earth that has rejected their Creator.
The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance. 2 Peter 3:9
If You Don’t Know Him
His arm beckons you to come to Him. He suffered and died to pay the penalty of your sin so you would not have to pay it in eternal separation from Him. Come to Him before He drops the other arm. Be sure you know what will happen when you die.
If You Know Him
Take comfort in the reality that you are no longer His enemy to experience the full weight of His wrath. You are at peace with God. And rest in Him to experience His presence with you- and all that entails.
What About You?
How has God comforted you lately? Please share in the comments below.
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Photo edited from photo by Finding Dan | Dan Grinwis on Unsplash
Copyright © 2020 Angela Edmonds. All rights reserved.
Sip Life Slowly and Enjoy It 