“You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you.” Isaiah 26:3
November 8, 2023
Many Christians have certain Bible texts that stay with them over the long haul life. We are apt to take the promise before us as sort of mind-medicine in distressing and confusing times. The context and meaning of the “perfect peace” available to God’s people is the relief experienced knowing that God is our refuge. Awful experiences and multiplied dangers threatening Israel were to give way to “peace peace” (in the Hebrew) or rock-solid trust in the Lord as the pilgrims passed through the gates and entered the “strong city” (vv. 1-2). Some think, rightly so, this refers to dispersed and redeemed Israel entering the millennial kingdom after the Great Tribulation. Is your mind fixed on the perfections of God? It is no wonder many in our nation are beset by fear, depression, and anxiety as are the citizens of Israel at this time of war. How would you like to be living next door to hate-crazed people who want to kill you. Pray for Israel that the longing for safety will lead to the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Do you have a firm hold on God guarding you from the “what-ifs” of terrible possibilities?
H
“Too often mental sufferers are advised to lay up their Bibles,…and go to the movies….The stayed mind is a sound mind and belongs to him who trusts in God.” Vance Havner