We recently purchased a home and had our closing date set for April 22nd.On April 22nd, we were told that we would be closing the following day on Tuesday, April 23rd. Understandably, I had booked the moving crew to show-up on April 23rd, the day after our original closing date.After nine long hours on Tuesday the movers had successfully packed up our entire house.One problem….we still hadn’t closed!
The next morning we had another crew of men arrive at 9:00 am to begin the messy process of refinishing the wood floors.Upon their arrival we were notified that our cat, dog, and entire family would not be allowed in the main portion of the house in a mere couple of hours because they would be staining the floors.Wow, just like that, we were technically “homeless”! We had to be out of our existing house and we had no home to go to; plus, with an uncertain closing date for our new house we had no real guarantee that we’d have a home to move into.
Each day we would wake up wondering if we would get the call that this indeed would be our “close day”. The days went by without our hearing anything, and the peace I had in my spirit would wax and wane.The initial closing date of the 22nd was moved to the 23rd, then changed to the 24th, then went to the 25th, and finally occurred on the afternoon of the 26th.
We were blessed to be invited to stay at a neighbor’s home during the interim and while there— with very few of our own belongings and still no certainty of where we would end up— I thought about the verse in Philippians 4:7 that says, “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
I knew God promised peace, but I still felt very stressed.The stress of the situation was very real.Where was this peace that transcends understanding?Isa. 26:3 states, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee,”
I think Matthew Henry in his commentary says it best, “Thou wilt keep him in peace, peace, in perfect peace, inward peace, outward peace, peace with God, peace of conscience, peace at all times, under all events; this peace shall he be put into, and kept in the possession of, whose mind is stayed upon God, because it trusts in him.It is the character of every good man that he trusts in God, puts himself under his guidance and government, and depends upon him that it shall be greatly to his advantage to do so. Those that trust in God must have their minds stayed upon him, must trust him at all times, under all events, must firmly and faithfully adhere to him, with an entire satisfaction in him; and such as do so God will keep in perpetual peace, and that peace shall keep them.”
I had to ask myself the question, “Is my entire satisfaction in God and in Who He is?” Or, was I searching for satisfaction in an outcome that was very uncertain?
It is easy to reflect and recognize that my peace waxed and waned depending upon my focus. When my focus was on God, I was at peace. When I allowed my focus to shift to my circumstances, I became stressed.
Where is your focus right now?Is your mind unwaveringly “stayed upon” God? Is God aclear and sharply defined person to you whom you are confident you can trust? Are you entirely and completely satisfied in Him, regardless of the circumstances that you face?
Written by Jamie Shaver