To Encourage You

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

I read something this morning from the late Samuel Brengle that helped me understand just a little bit more what the wonderful verse above is telling us.  Samuel Brengle was a commissioner in the Salvation Army and a preacher, teacher, and author.  He mentions how the verse is such “a wonderful promise . . . and it ought to be the aim of everyone to make it our experience,” i.e., to be kept in a place of perfect peace. The way to do this is simple: we are to keep our minds stayed on our Lord.  But while this is a simple statement, I confess it is no easy matter for most of us to do.  We would rather think about business, pleasure, the news of the day, politics, education, or music. And while we might from time to time think about the work of the Lord, how often are our minds stayed on the Lord Himself? 

Just think about it! All the treasure of wisdom and knowledge are hidden in Him (Colossians 2:3), and we, in our ignorance and foolishness, are complete in Him.  We may not understand, but He understands.  We may not know, but He knows. We may be perplexed, but He is not perplexed. Then we ought to trust Him if we are His, and we shall be kept in perfect peace.  Aren’t these wonderful thoughts? 

So often we try to figure things out by ourselves. We try to grit our teeth and struggle when we are in some difficult situation. Because we are weak, however, our attempts at self-reliance can lead us down the path of great anxiety – which is the opposite of perfect peace.  If we would but come to grips with the wonderful truth that in every area in which we are imperfect (which describes every area of our life) we have a God Who is perfect in every way. It is this omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent One Who is watching over us and to Whom we can always turn.  In any area of lack, He is more than enough. As 2 Corinthians 9:8 tells us, “And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having ALL sufficiency in ALL things at ALL times, you may abound in every good work.”  That’s why the verse above from Isaiah 26 points us to “you,” i.e., our Lord, three different times.  You see, our God would have us to know that “we” never have the ultimate answers to our problems of life. We aren’t sufficient in and of ourselves. But He is, in every way.  That’s why a mind stayed on Him rather than on ourselves and our problems is a mind that is at perfect peace.  It’s such a simple answer to every problem in life.  May God help us to remember it, and to actually put into practice what it so wonderfully says.