There is a word that characterises God’s glorious Kingdom and every utopian dream ever conceived. It is on the lips of every politician and in the hopes of everyday people who want to see good in the world. This word is peace.
It is essential to all positive relationships, a wellspring of joy and well-being to everyone who experiences it. It is reassuring and secure, so we continue to seek it.
Still, so many people are not at peace with themselves, with others, or with their Creator. Yet we’d love for peace to fill our lives, our relationships, our communities.
This blog asks, “Where is peace to be found today?” I suggest that the achievement of such peace depends on our focus in life. Where do we focus? Because this makes all the difference.
To draw this point out, I’d like to delve into the words of one of the most famous benedictions ever written, the blessing on Israel found in the sixth chapter of the Old Testament book of Numbers:
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace.” Number 6:24-26
Here God instructed Aaron the High Priest and his sons to invoke a very specific blessing on the nation. This unique benediction reveals the foundation for peace: God’s own love and compassion. Let’s immerse ourselves in the richness of this benediction.
This unique benediction reveals the foundation for peace: God’s own love and compassion.
“The Lord bless you and keep you…”
God desires to bless us, which means He loves us and wishes us abundant lives. Many people believe the God of the Old Testament to be severe and demanding, waiting for us to slip up so that He can punish us. Yet here is an Old Testament passage declaring God’s desire to bless us. He actually wants us to experience peace and everything good. God sees us in a positive light and wants the best for us.
To “keep” us, means He will take care of us and walk beside us every step of the way. He will protect us, keep us from evil, and care for us as a mother and father look after their child. He is our Father and we are His children, and He loves His own. He allows trials and difficulties in our lives, yes, so that we learn from our faults and those of others, and trust Him to see us through.
In the New Testament, Jesus tells us that He will never leave us, that He will be with us until the end of this age. These words are surely the most reassuring words anyone could ever hear! So if we feel we have lost contact with God, we can be sure that He is still there, never moving.
“The Lord make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you…”
This verse tells us that God looks at us. Yes, God pays individual regard to us! The Hebrew word for “face” speaks of relationship and intimacy. This means that God has personal attention for us, that He’s right here with us. More than that, His face shines when He looks at us! In other words, God approaches us with a positive, happy radiance. He’s closer than our spouse and children, more than our human parents. Because He is our Creator, He desires to save us. He knows everything about us, our every thought! No one is as close to us as God! In spite of our faults and mistakes, He desires to help us, if we are willing to accept that help.
God being gracious to us, should challenge any image we might have of a disciplinarian judge, out to punish our every mistake. Yes, He is the Almighty, and Paul writes that it is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of God if we trample on his gift of salvation or the sacrifice of Jesus Christ. Yet while we should have respect and awe for Him, the basis of His relationship with us is grace. He desires that we accept His gift, not that we stand in judgement for sin.
Grace is one of the great differences between Christianity and other major religions, where the relationship between ‘God’ and humans is based on works. In Christianity, God is a gracious God; He loves us not because we are good, poor, successful, or rich, but because we are His own. And as His children, we should accept His grace.
“The Lord turn his face towards you and give you peace.”
God takes the first step in a relationship with us! He seeks to remove the barrier that mankind has built between us. He desires to give us stability and security, to help us make sense of our existence in this chaotic world. He made us, He opened our minds to Him, and He offers us grace and forgiveness.
We do not deserve God’s grace or a relationship with him. It is His gift to us. Everything we have is from Him. Our family, our lives are gifts from God that He has entrusted to us. All we see around us is a gift, even though what we see may be in the process of being destroyed by Man.
This blessing, this grace and forgiveness, and turning towards us is the basis of our peace. Focusing on this divine relationship then gives us inner stability, confidence, and security which we can carry into all other human relationships. This peace, this blessing, is what God desires for you and me and the whole world.
By Carl Fredrick Aas