My Peace Day 2

Welcome back! We are continuing our look at Psalm 23:2b “He leads me beside still waters”.

Yesterday we looked at several scriptures on peace and different things that causes us to seek peace.

Today we will look at another name of God, Jehovah-Shalom meaning “Jehovah, my peace”.

We first meet Jehovah-Shalom in Judges in the story of Gideon. Gideon is hiding from the Midianites. One day an angel appeared before him and said “the LORD is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). Gideon questioned this. He doubted this. He was afraid. (Any of that sound familiar?) In Judges 6:23 the LORD says to Gideon “Peace! Do not be afraid. You are not going to die.” Gideon then built an altar and called it the LORD is peace (vs. 24).

Elizabeth George says “Is your daily life characterized by trouble, chaos and disaster? Do you feel like you are living under the pile, always behind, making little or no progress? That things are always out of control or never quite in order? Does your life lack the mark of God’s peace? Is there an absence of Jehovah-Shalom? … Our loving Shepherd leads. But we must heed. He leads, but we must follow.”

Gideon’s first response did not reflect a peaceful mind. I like what Elizabeth George says about this. “Is He leading the hesitant, reticent sheep in you? Is he trying to use you in mighty ways for His purposes … but you’re hemming and hawing, dawdling and fidgeting, fussing and fuming, stewing and worrying?

We fail to have peace when we forget (like Gideon did) that God never asks for us to have confidence in ourselves. He only asks that we have confidence in Him. When God commands, God supplies.”

Wow! Did you hear what that last paragraph said? We need to have confidence in God, not in ourselves! How often do we try to do things in our own strength, only to get frustrated, stressed out, and all out of whack? We need to pause and allow our Great Shepherd, Jehovah-Shalom, to lead us beside the still waters where we can find peace, total peace.

One of the ladies in my book study really enjoyed this chapter. At the time, she had a lot going on, i.e. working extra long days, a youth trip coming up and dental surgery appointment a few days before the youth trip. God really spoke to her and ministered to her His peace in a mighty way!

Another lady has been without a job for about eight months with no job lead in sight. She felt led to go back to school where she is learning medical billing. Now she has been out of school a long time and it has been a bit overwhelming to go back to school. What really spoke to her was having confidence in God rather than self. In herself she would be stressed, overwhelmed and feeling like she couldn’t do this. In God, she can succeed!

The picture that came to my mind of peace is one of our dog Barney. When we pet Barney, we run our hand down the length of him so that his fur lays flat. If we rub our hand up his back, then his fur stands up. When we are all out of whack, it is like our “fur” is being rubbed the wrong way going up instead of down. When we sit by still waters of peace, our “fur” which was up now lays flat. We are at peace once again.

What about you? Do you need the peace speaker in your life? Are you living in chaos? Are things troubling you? Take time today to allow your Shepherd, your Jehovah-Shalom, to be your peace speaker.

Here are two thought provoking questions the author asks at the end of Chapter 4. Take a moment and ask yourself these questions:

1. Do you have a time and place where you retreat regularly to commune with the God of peace?

2. How does it encourage you to know that God leads you to places of peace “beside still waters”?

Let’s pray. Father, we thank You that You are our Jehovah-Shalom, the LORD our peace, Jehovah my peace. We thank You that in our busyness and dealing with responsibility You lead us beside the still waters where Your peace can be found. I pray for the ladies reading this that are in need of Your peace in their lives. Father, saturate them completely with Your peace until they are dripping peace with every step they take. Thank You Father for touching them today in a special way. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.


Blessings,