Perfect Peace

    Trust can be relative to the object in which you have placed your trust.  I once built a raft out of old boards.  I must have done something wrong as when I pushed the raft out into the pond, it sunk to the bottom.  I don't know how that could happen, but it did.  I thought that something made of wood could float in any circumstances.  Well, it didn't.  Then, there was that day that I stood on the deck of the U. S. S. Mullinix, DD 944 that was going to be my home for the next 4 months.  It was made of steel and yet I was able to stand on it and feel safe in doing so.  My trust was not in the fact that wood floats and steel doesn't, but in the object that was made of the steel.  In that case, it was a ship 300 feet long, thirty feet wide and 30 feet deep.  I had put my trust in the ship rather than my raft.  Isaiah 26:3 reminds us, "You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts in you." 
     This passage has always reminded me of a peace that goes beyond my own understanding.  Verse 4 goes on to say, "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock."  We can have a peace that surpasses all of our understanding because of the Object of our trust.  In this case, we are to be putting our trust in God Himself for each and every things that transpires in our lives.  When you get right down to the bottom line, we put our trust in something each and every day.  I trust that my car will start.  I trust that all the drivers will be following the same rules of the road that I will be following when I get out on the highways.  I trust that the chairs will hold be up without a lot of examination as to their condition.  While these are all small items, there are some much bigger and important ones that demand our attention.  One of them, which is very important, is the matter of eternal destiny.  Where will I spend eternity?  Isaiah has mentioned in this verse that we can have a peace that is perfect.  It is the best peace of all and is a guarantee of peace because of the Object in which it is place.  This perfect peace comes by placing our complete trust in God.  We may not understand every detail, but God does.  As you go out into the world today, make sure you have this "perfect peace" which in Hebrew is, "Shalom, Shalom."  Praise God today that He can and does give us a peace that passes all understanding.