Journal Entry ~ 03/30/19

3 You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you. 
4 Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock.  - Isaiah 26:3-4

Every time I come back to this verse, I am reminded that God made us the most amazing promise through the prophet Isaiah. He doesn’t just promise us peace, He promises us perfect peace. 

To truly understand what God promises us through Isaiah, we need to dig deeper into the meaning behind the words perfect peace. Many of us know that the Hebrew word shalom translates in English as peace, but it means so much more than simply peace. Peace is generally defined as the absence of conflict, true shalom refers to an inward sense of wholeness or completeness, a tranquility that runs deep for your core. Shalom comes from the root word shalam, which means to be safe in body or mind. It makes reference of a wholeness so complete that you want to give back. 

Throughout scripture, we can find this word used in reference to the supernatural peace in the midst of chaos that can only come from the Lord. When God gives his blessing to Aaron in Numbers 6: The LORD bless you, and keep you; The LORD make His face shine on you, And be gracious to you; The LORD lift up His countenance on you, And give you peace, God is referring to the inner peace and completeness that comes when we are under His protection. It is a rest deep within our souls brought on by the presence of the Lord, regardless of the outward circumstances. 

Understanding the deeper meaning of the word shalom now, we can return to the original passage. In this verse, Isaiah doesn’t just use the word shalom once, he uses it twice - shalom shalom is translated as perfect peace. Repetition in the Hebrew language communicated intensity. It’s not just a wholeness or completeness, it’s not just a supernatural peace offered by God that makes us want to give to others, it’s deeper than that. It’s a peace beyond our ability to comprehend or our ability to bring about on our own. It can only be achieved by a deep rooted presence of the Holy Spirit. God doesn’t just give us one peace, He opens up two doors of peace and invites us to walk through to know His peace. 

He invites us to perfect peace. 


Press on ~ you are loved 💗

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