Isaiah 26:3-4 

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in you, all whose thoughts are fixed on you! 4 Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock.

One year ago, I started this Pandemic Perspective series and I thought it might end up being a several month series, little did I know we would still be in it a year later. As much as we want to know the future so we can plan and avoid problems and pain only Jesus knows the future because He holds the future. In uncertain times we are tempted to put our trust in things we think will sustain us, our wisdom, money, connections the list could go on but only a steadfast trust in Christ can carry us through. In our hectic, uncertain and stress filled world today, peace is an uncommon commodity. Rarely do we see people who possessed a deep abiding peace. We see people with temporal peace because of their circumstances, but not a peace in all circumstances. It’s easy to feel like we have peace when things are going our way, but are we at peace when things are seemingly all against us? Isaiah says that regardless of our circumstances we can have peace, even in times of great difficultly there can be peace in the pain. Isaiah reveals to us the secret of the peace, it is the byproduct of trust and a praying trusting soul is not touched by external disturbances. Do you want to have an eternal calm that comes from deep within?  Do you believe that God keeps His word, do you know that His word is trustworthy? Verse three begins to set forth the unmovable foundation of hope for God’s people, “You will keep in perfect peace those whose minds are steadfast, because they trust in you.”  The person who finds peace has cast themselves upon God without any reservations. Doubt is conquered by faith and the result is a replacing of doubt with trust. James 1:6-8 says that a doubting double-mined person is unstable in all their ways. Peace is always tied to our focus, a fixed disposition of trust in God is required to experience the security of God. The mind that is steadfast has its thoughts, purposes, and intentions focused. Focused on what? On the Lord God. A commitment to understanding that God will keep His Word develops peace, and eventually perfect peace. So how do we focus our mind on God? We focus our mind on God through meditating on His word. Are you daily spending time letting God refocus your life on Him through knowing His Word? Isaiah talks about perfect peace, this is not just a onetime moment of peace but a life style of peace. As we walk in trust with God this peace grows through fellowship with our Maker and over time we experience perfect peace. Perfect peace is discovered through a lifestyle of trust because Isaiah says that trust is not a onetime event either. The Hebrew here is a double repetition of the word shalom, literally shalom shalom, Peace is therefore emphatic. People who continue to trust in the Lord enjoy perfect, complete and genuine peace. The result of a mind stayed on God is a disposition of peace and wholeness and fullness of well-being, true repose in the sunshine of God’s favor, belong to those whom God keeps.  The truth of Isaiah 26:3 is that a person who steadfastly looks to God can know an inner peace which makes possible a confident out look even in the darkest hours. In exchange for our mortality, short-sightedness and weakness, faith receives God’s perspective, immortality, strength and presence. That is security far, far beyond anything this world could ever offer. The promises God keeps with us are intended to create confidence in His Word and faithfulness to Him. Those who abide in His Word and cultivate faithfulness, find peace, a deep, restful, constant assurance that God will not forsake His Word nor His promises. For those whose mind is fixed upon the promises of God, the outcome of all events is guaranteed peace. The sad truth is that it is often only a faithful few who know the peace that God alone is able to give. Have you begun your pursuit of peace, have you trusted in the promise of eternal life made possible through the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ? Because of sin we are in conflict with God and the only way to make peace with God is through His Son Jesus. How do we make peace with God? We can’t, it only comes as we place our trust in Jesus Christ as our own personal Lord and Savior. Jesus provided salvation through the cross, Jesus made peace with God for us by the shedding of His blood for the forgiveness of our sin. Have you made your peace with God by choosing Jesus, the Prince of Peace? When we have made peace with God we can receive the peace of God.  As we develop a deep abiding relationship with God, where we choose to place our mind on Him and make the purpose of our life a walk with Him we experience a growing transforming peace. Through this growing personal relationship we develop a deeper and fuller trust day by day as we walk with Him. Out of this trust blossoms peace, perfect peace regardless of whatever life will bring our way. Colossians 3:15 says “And let the peace that comes from Christ rule in your hearts. For as members of one body you are called to live in peace.” We can have peace with God and others if we have the peace of God ruling in our hearts.  The characteristic of a mature Christian is that they trust God by placing themselves under His guidance and leadership, and live in dependence upon Him. Those that trust in God have their minds stayed upon Him, they trust Him at all times, and under all events firmly and faithfully cleave to Him. They not only find satisfaction in God but He keeps them in perpetual peace. 

Galatians 6:4-5

“Pay careful attention to your own work, for then you will get the satisfaction of a job well done, and you won’t need to compare yourself to anyone else. For we are each responsible for our own conduct”

We are all tempted to fall for the comparison trap partly because we want to know where we are at and if we are measuring up. The problem with this is not only is this measurement very subjective because it’s based on our interpretation of success and our perception which is often faulty but what are we measuring up to? When we engage in the comparison trap, we end up trying to measure up to others. This leads to competing with others instead of complementing and coming alongside them. It traps us into a life of performance-based living where we waste our lives running on the never-ending treadmill of pride, guilt and exhaustion. It’s no wonder that Theodore Roosevelt so famously said, “Comparison is the Thief of Joy” How many of us are living joyless lives because we are focused on comparison instead of Christ. In John 16:22 Jesus gave us an amazing promised, “No one will take your joy from you,” But what did He mean by that? Because I know there have been times when I find myself pursuing joy because I have lost it. I have to confess that this seeming contradiction used to confuse me; “If no one can take my joy, then why is my joy missing?” I repeated the contradiction over and over again in my mind. “No one can take your joy…I lost my joy…no one can take your joy…I lost my joy… oh! I lost my joy!” that is when the light bulb finally turned on. No one took my joy, I simply stopped being intentional about experiencing it! Joy is a little bit like a sweater that gets buried in the back of the closet from not being worn. It may have been forgotten about, but it remains in the closet waiting to be pulled out and put on. We didn’t lose it we just didn’t put it on! There are 25 different Hebrew words and 10 Greek words that make up the over 150 references to joy in the Bible.Looking at these words for joy we see two main definitions emerge. The first is gladness in the Lord. If asked to define joy, most people would give a word similar to gladness, such as happiness, contentment, or delight. While these words define the emotion of joy, none reflect the source of the emotion. You see while happiness is based on your happenings, joy is based on Jesus. That is why according to James 1:2 we are to, “Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds.” Finding joy in trials and suffering is only possible because joy comes from gladness in the Lord alone. While happiness is tied to our circumstances joy is tied to Christ. Are you Christ or circumstance focused?  The second definition is rejoicing which describes the outward expression of our internal joy. In the Bible, rejoicing takes the form of leaping, shouting, singing, playing music and dancing. The Psalms in particular describe these forms of rejoicing.

“Sing joyfully to the Lord, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the Lord with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.” Psalm 33:1-3

“Clap your hands, all you nations; shout to God with cries of joy.” Psalm 47:1

Notice how the two main definitions of biblical joy are connected; rejoicing flows out of gladness in the Lord and our gladness in the Lord increases the more we rejoice. Because joy means gladness in the Lord losing our joy suggests we shifted our focus from God’s goodness to our own troubles, unhappiness, or pain. That’s why refocusing on God is the first step to rediscovering our joy. Take some time to meditate on God and His goodness and ask Him to reignite your gladness in the Savior instead of your situation.