The Key to Peace

 

Psalm 119:165

Great peace have they [O Lord] who love your law, and nothing can make them stumble.     NIV

The Bible here promises not just peace, but great peace. In the world today we tend to have a very low view of peace. If two nations are not actually fighting one another with weapons of war we say there’s peace. There may be bitterness, hatred, fear, resentment, misrepresentation, but we still speak about peace.

I want to tell you that the Bible has a much higher standard of peace. The Hebrew word for “peace” is shalom; it is the greeting that is used in modern Hebrew. It really means more than just the absence of strife or war. It’s connected with a root that means completeness or wholeness. So peace is wholeness; it’s completeness. It’s not having anything lacking. It’s being a complete person. It’s living a full life. And this is promised to those who love God’s law.

You see, peace comes in our lives in abundance when we are living it out in accordance with the laws of God — His spiritual laws, His moral laws and His physical laws. When we live in accordance with the laws, then nothing makes us stumble; we are not easily offended; we are not discouraged. Opposition and difficulties do not overthrow us because something is stronger in us than anything we have to face: the outworking of God’s eternal laws.