To Encourage You

Isaiah 26:3 “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.”

One of the great attributes of God is that He rewards those who trust Him.  We are told that “without faith it is impossible to please Him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that He exists and that He rewards those who seek him” (Hebrews 11:6).  One of His greatest rewards is promised in the verse above from Isaiah 26, i.e., the reward of perfect peace.  It’s something that God gives to those Who trust Him, and whose minds are stayed on Him. The word “stayed” means “to lean upon or take hold of.”  It’s a continual focus on Him. 

But who actually does this?  How many live like this?  When trouble comes our way, isn’t it our tendency to have our minds stayed on the trouble and to think about it all the time?  To think in that way comes naturally. It comes so easily to us, regardless of the negative effects of such thinking on us.  But to have our minds stayed on Christ, that’s a supernatural thing.  It’s not what most people think about.  In fact, thoughts of Christ may almost never enter most people’s minds.  How can they be when we inundate ourselves with all sorts of secular media through the gates of our eyes and ears.  It’s the way this world works – to focus on all the busyness, the “to do” lists, the problems, and the people or issues that are the source of those problems.  But God has something better for those Who would have the rewards only He can give.

God tells us that He will keep us in perfect peace, i.e., it’s something He absolutely will do for us, if we will just fix our minds on Him above all else.  When we get up in the morning, He should be the first thing we think about – if we want His peace.  One of the best ways to do this is to read His Word and talk to Him in prayer.  But then thoughts on His Word and communion with Him should be a moment by moment thing all day long – if we want His peace.  Every decision, every action, and every thought – if it, first and foremost, has thoughts of Him and towards Him, i.e., a mind stayed on Him, then His promise to us is His peace. 

So, what are you thinking about right now?  What is on your horizon? What tasks are bearing down on you, or what problems are weighing you down?  Whatever it is, our great God’s promise to us, in any situation and at any time, if our minds are stayed on Him – is that He will give us His peace. The same thing is said again to us in so many words in Psalm 112:7,  where it says of the one who trusts God with his or her life, “He is not afraid of bad news; his heart is firm, trusting in the Lord.”  It’s our choice, of course – a heart fixed on or stayed on Him, or preoccupied with anything and everything else.  But if it’s really His peace that we want, it’s not much of a choice at all.