Isaiah 57:19-21 –“I create the fruit of the lips: Peace, peace to him who is far off and to him who is near,” Says the LORD, “And I will heal him.”  20 But the wicked are like the troubled sea, When it cannot rest, Whose waters cast up mire and dirt. 21 “There is no peace,” Says my God, “for the wicked.”  NKJV

Jesus said in John 14:27-28 – “Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.” NASB Paul later wrote in Philippians 4:7 – “And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” NASB

The Lord, through Isaiah, declares that He creates the fruit of the lips and grants peace to the one who is near and the one who is far off.  God promises to bring healing to those, and I personally believe that means physically, mentally, socially, spiritually, and economically.  Then He says something that should catch our attention if the first part did not.

God identified that there is something that the wicked cannot have or possess. That something is Peace!  The wicked will toss and turn on his bed at night troubled by shadows of things they fear whether real or imagined.  The wicked will always be looking over his shoulder because of the vileness of his heart and the corruption that proceeds from it.  He will never trust anyone because he cannot be trusted.  He is like a troubled sea that dredges up filth and pollution and there is no Peace! 

If your life is marked by the absence of peace you might want to examine your relationship with our Lord.  I am not saying you are wicked. I am suggesting that if you allow the Holy Spirit to develop and strengthen your relationship with Jesus, Peace will become a natural product of your life. I am suggesting that the continual absence of peace could be an indication of a problem or deficiency. On the other hand, if you are engaged in wickedness then you cannot expect to experience true peace or continual peace it is not something that God will allow you to have.

I know the Peace of God that goes far beyond what the human mind can comprehend or imagine.  I know what it is to be completely calm, collected, and restful in the midst of a situation that would cause any heart to be completely hysterical.  I know what the infusion of God’s Peace can bring to any situation and any heart in the most difficult of times.  That place of peace is a place that I desire as my permanent residence.

May God be with you as you go through your day!