What Is the Peace That Surpasses All Understanding?

He leads me …

When people refer to the peace the passes all understanding, what do they mean? Most Christians know that it is something that the Lord gives us, but for many it sounds like something that only the super spiritual can discover. The fact is that it is achievable for any Christian. Let us have a look at what this peace actually is.

In Philippians Paul writes -

‘Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will keep your thoughts and your hearts quiet and at rest as you trust in Christ Jesus.’ (Philippians 4:6-7 TLB)

When we think about the word peace we probably think about an absence of war, but in this case it is a state of mind - an emotional state of well-being. Essentially it drives out any fear in our lives and frees us from any worries. This peace gives us an amazing confidence, that God has everything in control and as a result we have nothing to concern ourselves with.

This peace is very important. We know this because there are supporting scriptures that reinforce what Paul was telling the church folk in Philippi.

     Jesus had taught the same thing to His disciples, when He said, ‘I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart! And the peace I give isn’t fragile like the peace the world gives. So don’t be troubled or afraid.’ (John 14:27 TLB).

      Paul said in Romans 8:28, ‘And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans.’ (TLB). Effectively Paul is saying that if we let him, God will sort out our lives. We just need to realise that His ways are best for us, and if we really want what is best then we should hand complete control of our lives over to Him.

     This point is reinforced by Paul in his second letter to the church in Corinth. He writes, ‘What a wonderful God we have—he is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the source of every mercy, and the one who so wonderfully comforts and strengthens us in our hardships and trials. And why does he do this? So that when others are troubled, needing our sympathy and encouragement, we can pass on to them this same help and comfort God has given us.’ (2 Corinthians 1:3-4 TLB).[1]

So how do we get this amazing peace? We saw it at the beginning of the initial quotation from Philippians –

‘Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything; tell God your needs, and don’t forget to thank him for his answers. If you do this, you will experience God’s peace.’

Do not worry – As the old saying goes – worry is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but does not get you anywhere. The best thing to do is to bring our worries to the Lord and leave them with Him. When we do, it is like a great weight has been taken off our shoulders. Truly.

Pray about everything – the good, the bad, and whatever has been happening during the day, just like Adam and Eve did in the Garden with the Lord before the fall. Praying establishes a relationship between us and God. From this He can find out what is concerning us – even if we do not say so directly. He will pick it up from what we are praying about. He will be able to gauge what our real issues are and then be able to help us.

Tell God your needs – this is not about the nice to have things in our lives. It is about our needs. Sometimes the Lord wants to see that they really are needs by us persistently praying about them so that He can see that they are really important to us. Jesus provided an example in Luke 18:1-8 with this story about the judge and the persistent widow. Consider too – ‘Let him have all your worries and cares, for he is always thinking about you and watching everything that concerns you’ (1 Peter 5:7 TLB).

Don’t forget to thank Him for His answers - James 1:17 says, ‘Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows’ (NIV). He blesses us in all sorts of ways, so why not thank Him for what He has done?

These points form the foundational part of our relationship with God. The peace comes when by faith we do not rely on feelings, but we rely on God’s promises and are content with whatever happens in our life. We have a secure confidence that God knows what He is doing and is taking care of everything. For most Christians it comes as a result of seeing the Lord working with us during our hard times. We see His provision and we see that He ‘never leaves us or forsakes us’ (Deuteronomy 31:6, 8; Isaiah 41:10; Hebrews 13:5). From this we know that He can be completely trusted to do what is best in our lives.

The meaning of peace goes deeper than this. The Hebrew word for peace is the word shalom. Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga Jr. PhD and lecturer in systematic theology, tells us that, ‘In the Bible we see that shalom is the way things ought to be’.[2] God did this when He created the Garden of Eden. It was a garden of pleasures. It was a place of shalom - a place of peace, of exceptional happiness and delight. This is what humans were created for, and which will be seen again by Christians when we get to Heaven.

The meaning of shalom being a place of peace and everything being in its right place comes across in the story of Jesus calming the storm in Mark 4:35-41. It reads -

On that day, when evening had come, he said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.” And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him. And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling. But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith? And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (ESV)

     We see that Jesus was sleeping during the storm. He must have had the peace that passes all understanding to be trust His Father’s protection enough to sleep while a storm was raging.

     When Jesus commanded ‘Peace’ to the storm, there was a great calm. The weather had not only become peaceful, but it was restored back to its right place. This works for us too because when we are in the right place with God, we will have His peace.

     Finally we see that the disciples were filled with great fear. Jesus asked them why they were so afraid – did they not have any faith? Did they not see that the One who commanded the wind and the sea to be still was perfectly able to protect them too? If they could, they would know His peace.

The message to Christians today is the same. Do we fully trust the Lord with our lives? And do we not only believe it, but live it as well. If we live with full confidence in God, we will also know the peace which passes all understanding.

Dear Reader – If you have found some value in this blog, please feel free to send a copy on to your family and friends. Kind regards, John

[1] What Is the Peace That Surpasses All Understanding? Jessica Brodie, Christianity.com;

https://www.christianity.com/wiki/bible/what-is-peace-that-surpasses-all-understanding.html

[2] Cornelius "Neal" Plantinga Jr. (PhD and lecturer in systematic theology at Calvin Seminary from 1979 to 1996)