THE PROMISE OF PEACE IN A TUMULTUOUS WORLD - by Brent Lokker

Needless to say, there’s been a heap of turmoil in the world, and in America this rose to a crescendo during our recent presidential elections as it has a way of doing every four years. Because we all hold fiercely at times to our cherished opinions of how the world ought to be as well as how it’s going to happen, half of the United States was poised to be incredibly disheartened with the election results. Yet, regardless of whether you were devastated or exuberant with the outcome, God is equally in the midst of each of us doing something much deeper in our hearts…   “We are all in love with our own opinions, convinced they’re correct. But the Lord is in the midst of us,  testing and probing our every motive.” Proverbs 16:2 (TPT)   Because of his tender love for us, he brings to the surface areas of our hearts where we have placed our trust in people or situations or outcomes rather than himself and the goodness of his heart toward us. Then he invites us to explore the why behind our misplaced trust. This could point to our independent ways, or to our attempts to control our world or people we are close to because of anxiety in our hearts, or a number of other reasons which only God’s Spirit will be able to reveal. But no matter what is revealed, he’s not asking us to fix ourselves (which we can’t do!) but rather awaiting our invitation for him to heal us and set us free (which only God can do!)   Look at what follows the previous verse in Proverbs:   “Before you do anything, put your trust totally in God and not in yourself.  Then every plan you make will succeed. The Lord works everything together to accomplish his purpose.” Proverbs 16:3-4 (TPT)   Everything means everything!   In the midst of the turbulence, our faithful and good Shepherd, Jesus, promises to compassionately lead us through any ‘valley of the shadow of death’ into lush, green pastures! He does this by chasing after us every day of our lives with his goodness and tender love. In so doing, Jesus invites us into a process of entrusting our fearful hearts to him.   This world is not our home, but we tend to forget that because this world and its independent ways are what we’re familiar with. Jesus is our true King, and he came to usher in his Father’s kingdom which is far superior to this world and is described as ‘righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.’   Now there’s an invitation straight from the Father’s heart to yours: Wouldn’t you like to rest in the green pastures of being completely right with me in every way? Wouldn’t you like to rest in the deep shalom of Jesus, knowing it is well with your soul? And wouldn’t you like to be engulfed in ecstatic joy of the Holy Spirit? Trust me and let me usher you into the abundant life that I promised you. I made these promises and I will keep them because of my great love for you!