This Day in History: 0000-05-27

May 27 – Isaiah 26:3-7

You will keep in perfect peace all who trust in You, all whose thoughts are fixed on You!
Trust in the Lord always, for the Lord God is the eternal Rock. He humbles the proud… but for those who are righteous, the way is not steep and rough.  You are a God who does what is right, and you smooth out the path ahead of them.

There was a time not that long ago when I didn’t feel like this promise was true.  I felt like I was trusting God.  I felt like my thoughts were fixed upon Him. And yet, my circumstances were more difficult than I ever imagined I would have to endure.  They felt unmanageable, and I didn’t feel like I was being kept in perfect peace.  Let me rephrase – I was not being kept in perfect peace.  Life seemed impossible. I spent many hours wondering how I was even going to make it through the day, let alone the week… the month…. the year… my life!

I also spent hours searching Scripture and crying out to God for help; telling Him that I trusted Him, but I just didn’t understand or see a way forward.

But what I’ve come to realize in the months since then is that while my thoughts may have been drifting onto Him, they were absolutely NOT fixed there.  I easily spent as much time thinking worrying about my problems and trying to come up with my own way forward as I did thinking about Him; who He is, what He’s done, how He’s provided in the past, what He promises… etc.  Somewhere inside me I did trust Him on some level, but that trust was mixed with much doubt, as well.  So, when I didn’t feel “in perfect peace,” there was good reason.

How about you?  Are you struggling to find perfect peace?  Are your thoughts truly fixed on God?  Do you trust Him?  If not, you’re not alone.

Praise God, what I’ve found to be true is that as we continue to try; as we continue to seek Him more and more each day, He is SO faithful!  He will prove Himself again and again and hopefully trusting Him will become easier. (Some of us are slow learners here!)  So, let’s keep seeking Him. Let’s do our very best to keep our thoughts fixed upon Him.  Let’s keep pursuing that peace that comes only through total surrender; total trust in the One who holds all things together.  As the passage says, He is a God who does what is right.  As He continues His sanctifying work in us, molding us into the image of His Son, may we see Him smooth the path before us and enter into perfect peace!