Peace and Trust

Read Isaiah 26:1-7

This is a psalm contained in the prophecy of Isaiah. We are considering the peace of God’s people and will draw upon Isaiah’s words, but first, consider the story in the psalm.

It is the story of God’s Chosen People.  They know that one day Jerusalem will be unassailable.  This will not be due to higher and thicker walls, but that the walls and parapets are not made of stone but of salvation.

It is a place where only the righteous may enter.  It stands in contrast to the wicked world which the Lord will lay low.  This city is anchored on the Rock which is the Lord.

Those who dwell in this city long for the ways of the Lord and live in his peace.

Those who know the Lord do not fear judgment but the wicked never seem to learn even when grace is extended to them.

The Lord’s zeal brings peace to those who seek him and destruction to those who resist grace and love wickedness.

God’s people know that their accomplishments came at the hand of the Lord. 

God’s people know that they have veered from God’s path.  They confess.

God’s people know that they were blessed to be a blessing; yet, they failed.

God’s people know that there will be a time of judgment that will come upon the earth that they must endure for a time for sin will be judged.

God’s people did not understand that while Isaiah did speak of the restoration of Jerusalem that followed the Babylonian Captivity that was about to befall them; he spoke also of a time in which we live today and the age to come.

Did you catch the part where God’s people knew they were blessed to be a blessing and they performed dismally at this?  These are the children of Abraham.  These people took pride in the fact that they were sons of Abraham; yet they missed the part about being blessed to be a blessing.

But they acknowledged that they blew it.  Despite this, these are people who know peace.

You will keep in perfect peace

    those whose minds are steadfast,

    because they trust in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

As we have navigated this year seeking the Lord’s direction on love, and love and action, and love and peace, I have proffered to you that trust in the Lord is action.  Today, I put before you that trust in the Lord brings us peace.

Look at the children of Israel.  They were God’s own people.  They were indeed sons of Abraham.  God gave them their identity.  He gave them the law.  He promised and delivered a land just for them. 

God gave his people a chance to do right by him or to make a mess of things.  Most of the time it was the latter.

When God’s people had taken possession of the land promised to them by God and Joshua was nearing the end of his days as leader of this chosen people, he put a challenge before all the people.

He said that they could follow any of the false gods that they knew in Egypt or in the lands they had just conquered, or they could follow the one true God.  It should not have been a difficult question.  These people saw enemy after enemy flee from the armies of God’s Chosen People.  They knew their victories came at the hand of the Lord.

Joshua challenged them further saying that for him and his household, they would serve the Lord.  It’s like, ok guys, here is the correct answer.

Of course, they all replied, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods!”  Their testimony as to what the Lord had done followed so they were not just mimicking Joshua; however, Joshua challenged them again even though they gave the right answer.

Joshua said to the people, “You are not able to serve the Lord. He is a holy God; he is a jealous God. He will not forgive your rebellion and your sins. If you forsake the Lord and serve foreign gods, he will turn and bring disaster on you and make an end of you, after he has been good to you.”

 But the people said to Joshua, “No! We will serve the Lord.”

Joshua was right.  They couldn’t do it.  The people turned away from the one true God time and time again.  In Isaiah’s time, judgment would come upon God’s own people at the hands of the Babylonians, and other neighbors to the north.

Joshua was right that God would not forgive their rebellion and their sins.  God would condemn sin and rebellion and exact the death penalty for what his people had done.  That price was paid in his own blood.  That price was paid by the blood of Jesus.

Judgment of sin took place on a hill called Golgotha some two millennia ago.  But God’s people were not condemned. God’s people were the beneficiaries of what we call grace—unmerited forgiveness from God.  Sin was not overlooked by God.  It was judged and the penalty—the death penalty—exacted.  By his stripes we are healed.  By his blood we are forgiven.

That grace has been extended to us and to the world.  It is the greatest gift since the creation itself and many of you rejoice in it.  We have received the salvation of the Lord.

But have we received his peace?  Do we live in his peace? 

We are not so different from God’s Chosen People.  We know the Lord.  We know his ways.  We know what to do.  We know that we often miss the mark.  We do things that we knew not to do.  We do things that are governed by our own understanding and not the way of the Lord.

We who are saved from sin and death cheat ourselves out of the Lord’s peace when we continue to do things our own way.

There is a big step in faith between believe and trust.

Whoever calls upon the name of the Lord will be saved!  I believe that Jesus is God’s son.  I believe that he walked on this earth and lived as a man—enduring human trials.  I believe that he died and by his blood my sins were forgiven. 

I believe that God raised Jesus from the dead.  I believe that Jesus is at the right hand of the Father in heaven.

I believe that Jesus did not leave us as orphans here on earth, that his Spirit—God’s own Spirit—was given to us when we professed Jesus is Lord.

I believe that God’s own Spirit is alive within me, but, I’m not ready to trust him yet.

There is a big step in faith between believe and trust.

And while we live between believe and trust, we miss out on a lot of peace.  Things still get to us.  The imperfection of the day frustrates us.  When our vision of how things should be or should go are not met, peace is elusive.

Speedbumps become mountains.  Weather becomes climate.  Seconds become hours.  Little things become trials. 

Perspective and proportion give way to hyperbole and drama.  The sky is falling!

You will keep in perfect peace

    those whose minds are steadfast,

    because they trust in you.

Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

The sky may indeed be falling, but for those who trust in the Lord; they will have peace.  Our circumstances will not steal our peace.

The wanderings of God’s Chosen People and our own meanderings into our own understanding attest to this.  We don’t always do the right things, but we trust God and his word.

If we confess, he is faithful and just to forgive.  Do we believe this, or do we trust in this?  I hope that your answer is yes and yes. 

I believe that God forgives.  Whew!  At least I am not going to hell.

I trust that God forgives. Hallelujah!  I can get right back into my race of faith!  I do this without having to make a stop at anxiety.  I can put my love into action and have peace.

I love Proverbs 3:5-6.  I would challenge you to find a sermon where I couldn’t work that Proverb into context.  Don’t spend too much time on that quest.  It will not produce any fruit.  It is sort of the king of trust within the scriptures and fits in just about anywhere.

But the message of trust goes far beyond that single quip of wisdom as the text for today’s message attests. Let’s understand more about belief and trust.

Belief brings us to salvation. Trust kicks off discipleship.

Belief brings us from death to life.  Trust puts the abundance into life.

Belief seems like the finish line to some.  Trust tells us we just left the starting blocks.

Belief brings affirmation.  Trust leads us to action.

Belief brings us joy.  Trust brings us to fulfillment.

Belief brings assurance.  Trust brings us to peace.

We must believe in Jesus, but we don’t enjoy the fruit that is waiting for us until we trust fully in the Lord.

This is not semantics.  This is not a minor difference in similar terms.  This is life and living.  How many people do you know who are alive but not living?

How often do you miss out on God’s peace?

How often do we know God can do something and we trust that God will do something?

There is nothing wrong with believing.  We need to believe in Jesus and cast out all doubts that the enemy throws our way.  We need to believe in Jesus and resist the old self that tells us to hedge our bets.

Then, we need to trust God and live trusting God and receive the peace that comes from trusting God.

Trust in the Lord forever,

    for the Lord, the Lord himself, is the Rock eternal.

Believe, trust, and live in the perfect peace of the Lord!

Amen!