If God offered you anything you wanted in this world, anything at all, what would you ask for? Tough question. Takes a bit of thinking about. A new car? A bigger house? Good health? A long life? There are so many things to choose from. What would you choose?
Can I tell you something? After the basic provisions of enough air to breath, water to drink, food to eat and a roof over my head, you know what’s right up there for me? Peace.
Just … being able to live my life in peace.
God Wants You to Have Peace
Then Micah said, “I saw all of Israel scattered on the mountains like sheep that have no shepherd.” And the Lord said, “These have no master. Let each one go home in peace. (1 Kings 22:17)
There’s something about being able to go home in peace. And that, in fact, is God’s heart for His people.
He looks at Israel. They’re scattered everywhere. They have no leadership. And God says: ‘You know what I want for each one of them? I want them to be able to go home in peace. To kind of walk in their front door, close it behind them and to be able to withdraw from the world with their families and have peace.’
In fact, my hunch is that if they thought long and hard, many people would choose that as what they want. Because there is such blessing in a peaceful home.
And yet many a home is torn by strife. Discord. Disrespect. Dissension. Many a family is disintegrating.
What if … what if we could have a peaceful home? What a blessing that would be!!
Peace Requires a Special Sort of Wisdom
There’s an interesting statement in the beginning of the Old Testament book of Proverbs. Now this is a wisdom book. It’s wisdom literature. So check out this bit of wisdom:
The fear of the Lord is the beginning of knowledge and only fools despise wisdom and instruction. (Proverbs 1:7)
I had an interesting email from a rebel fighter in a war torn part of Africa a while back. He had just listened to a radio program of ours about the fear of God. This is what he said.
Recently I was attending a peace conference. While I was in my hotel room I turned on the radio. As I was listening to your program I realised that without the fear of God in our hearts, there will be no peace. No peace at all. These 8 minutes were enough to take me to a turning point in my life as well as in my peace effort in this region. I left that room as a changed man. I’ve been on the battlefield for 13 years now. I don’t know how many people have died because of my gun but what I know is that I decided to lay down my arms.
What an amazing testimony! But do you get it?
Peace Comes When We Fear God
That’s what the Bible says and that’s what this man discovered. Peace comes when we decide to do life God’s way. Peace comes when we lay down our guns, stop shooting, because deep in our hearts we’ve experienced the fear of God. A right fear, a good fear, a fear that brings us to the point of deciding to live our lives His way, the right way.
There’s a name for that. It’s called righteousness. And righteousness has a real impact on our home lives:
The effect of righteousness will be peace and the result of righteousness – quietness and trust forever. My people will abide in a peaceful habitation in secure dwellings and in quiet resting places. (Isaiah 23:17, 18)
Wow, what an incredible blessing! Peaceful habitation. Secure dwelling place. Quiet resting places. Where does all that come from? It’s the effect of righteousness.
Is that something you want for your life? When you walk through the front door, close it, shut out the rest of the world out there, is that the sort of home, the sort of family that you want to have?
If it is, then it’s time to start building a Godly home. To take seriously your responsibility in making your home a godly one. As we start to get the fear of God happening in our hearts, as we start to honor God and by living our lives His way, something happens.
Berni Dymet – adifferentperspective.org
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