Perfect Peace

Daily Reading: Isaiah 26

Scripture Focus: You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. (Isaiah 26.3-4)

Devotional Thought: When my oldest daughter, Jenny, was just a toddler in her crib, she was so precocious - way advanced beyond other babies her age!  Probably the smartest baby that had ever lived up to that point in history!  Why did I feel that way (besides the fact it was true!)?  Well, the vision came to me very clearly when she stood at the rail of her crib and perfectly sang the hymn "Thou Wilt Keep Him in Perfect Peace."  I loved that hymn and sang it to Jenny over and over again for bedtime and naptime.  Looking back, I'm not sure if I was singing it for her or for me.  When there's a two year old in the house, peace can be elusive!  Either way, it stuck in her young mind.

In Isaiah's day, peace was elusive, too.  The city of Jerusalem found itself threatened from without and from within.  The people longed for peace.  They tried other ways to obtain that peace, but Isaiah reminded them that the only way to lasting peace - to perfect peace - was to trust in the Lord and to meditate upon him.

Do you need a little peace in the chaos of life?  Remember the words of this verse in Isaiah, and the words of this hymn:

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. 

When the shadows come and darkness falls he giveth inward peace. 

Oh, he is the only perfect resting place.  He giveth perfect peace.

Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee. (Vivian Kretz)

Prayer: O Prince of Peace, my soul often finds itself in turmoil.  Help me to stay my mind upon you, to trust in you, for you are "the Lord God, an everlasting rock."  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 60.1-5

1 O God, you have rejected us, broken our defenses; you have been angry; oh, restore us.

2 You have made the land to quake; you have torn it open; repair its breaches, for it totters.

3 You have made your people see hard things; you have given us wine to drink that made us stagger.

4 You have set up a banner for those who fear you, that they may flee to it from the bow. Selah

5 That your beloved ones may be delivered, give salvation by your right hand and answer us!