Inner peace
by Charles Bertelsmeier
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I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world (John 16:33).
Read John 16:25–33
Jesus promises his disciples peace while at the same time telling them that they will experience ‘trouble’ in this world. How do we resolve this dichotomy? We generally see trouble and peace as opposites; however, Jesus seems to be saying that we can experience his peace even amid troubling times.
One thing we need to become clear about is that being a child of a loving Heavenly Father does not protect us from facing troubling issues. We can still experience medical and health issues; we can be involved in accidents that cause injuries that take a long time to heal and possibly leave us with lingering limitations. We can face financial issues, lose our jobs or experience challenging workplace situations. We may be affected by droughts, bushfires, floods, earthquakes and landslides. We may fall foul of the law, even possibly when we believe we were not at fault. It may financially cost us or even lead to imprisonment. We may fall out with a friend, and our marriage may fail. All these things happen to people committing their lives to God’s care. I know, because I have experienced many of them, some in a minor way and a few more intensely.
When we face these events in our lives, we can spend a lot of time trying to think up answers about how to deal with these ‘challenges’ to the peace in our lives. They can keep us awake at night and rob us of sleep. They can make us tense and hard to live with as we concentrate on solving our problems, leading to relationship issues. We can lose focus as we concentrate on finding solutions and fail to carry out our responsibilities to family, friends and employers, leading to further negative consequences. I have experienced all these too.
Jesus’ answer is, ‘But take heart! I have overcome the world.’ To start with, God is in complete control of his universe, including all the minutiae of our lives. Then, Jesus has assured us that he will be with us always, to the end of time (Matthew 28:20). Whatever God allows to happen in our lives, he uses to grow us in maturity in our relationship with him. So, he promises to be right alongside us as he guides us in working out his solutions to our problems, and he does this through his Holy Spirit living in us. So instead of being busy trying to think up solutions, he wants us to stop, rest in his presence and talk to him about our problems, all the time listening to the guidance he wants to give us.
We also have his word to us in the Bible, so he invites us to spend time reading our Bibles during our rest. Sometimes, the guidance will be during our time of rest. At other times, the guidance will come as we get up and follow where he is leading. As we follow him, we will grow in trusting his commitment to us and in knowing his peace.
Heavenly Father, thank you for being in complete control of everything and for your commitment to growing me in my relationship with you. Thank you for the peace this brings me. Amen.
Charles is a retired engineer who has worked on telecommunications projects for the air force, army and navy. He lives in a retirement village in the outer north-western suburbs of Sydney with his wife, Diane. Together, they have four children and eight grandchildren, all of whom they love spending time with. Charles keeps busy caring for their pot plants and a community vegetable garden, researching his family history and volunteering in the community and at LifeWay Lutheran Church.
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