Oh, that you had heeded My commandments! Then your peace would have been like a river, and your righteousness like the waves of the sea. Isaiah 48:18
The desire for peace can be found in people all over the world. In many places, this peace is seen as the absence of war and fighting that is occurring on a daily basis. Other places, it is the inner peace that people are looking to attain but are unable to attain it. People believe that if certain things occur around them, then there will be the peace that they are searching for.
Isaiah quotes God at telling the Israelites a complaint that if they would have obeyed His commandments, they would have had peace like a river and their righteousness would have been like the waves of the sea.
Very few people have an inner peace that is rushing over them, flowing in and through them like a river or crashing on them like huge waves. In the process of seeking peace, many will turn to drugs, sex, money, jobs or nearly anything else to find what they are searching for. All these things may give a temporary moment of peace, but none will last or give real peace that overflows in their lives.
The world seeks peace through self, sin and temporary things, while rejecting the true peace of God that is available. Many see obeying God as being restricting and removing of peace.
When one chooses to obey God, one begins to have a peace that the world will never understand. There is peace between self and God. There is peace that no matter what happens one will live for eternity. There is peace that God is in control. And this peace will continue to flow like a river and cause one’s righteousness to be like waves crashing in the ocean.
There will be times you will desire to have peace but cannot seem to find it. Begin by turning to God with your whole heart, soul, mind and strength. Choose to obey God’s commands to you, no matter how little or big they are. See how God can work in and through you His peace when you choose to do things His way and not your own way or the ways of the world.
Do not reject God’s commands and live without peace.
Today I pray that you will know Jesus as your Lord and Savior; that you will obey all of God’s commands to you; that you will know the peace God has for you; that God’s peace will flow through you; and that by obeying God’s commands, you will have His righteousness crashing in your life continually.
Picture by Jonas Denil on Unsplash
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