“And Joseph answered
Pharaoh, saying, It is not in me: God shall give Pharaoh an answer of peace.” -
Genesis 41:16
Life is filled with uncertainty. Every new day brings
new challenges, new questions, and more uncertainty. With all the questions
and concerns that life brings, I ask you, has this world ever been able to give
you an answer of peace? Many of us have the world’s knowledge at our
fingertips; Google gets over 1 billion queries a day. There is a constant
felling of lack, which produces a want for more stuff to fill it; as it says in
the book of Haggi: “6 Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but
ye have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; ye clothe you,
but there is none warm; and he that earneth wages earneth wages to put it into
a bag with holes.” There are plenty of questions out there, and
plenty more answers, but none from the world can offer an answer of peace,
because the only answers you will find in the world are answer from
man.
We are all born into this world with enmity between us and
God. There is always warfare going on internally; while we are in the
flesh. So preachers will tell you that this warfare will continue until
you die, they will tell you that there is no peace within. This is a lie;
the scripture says “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is
stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” (Isaiah 26:3) When
the Word talks about being in the flesh, it is saying that your spiritual man
is in the flesh; this is to say “in sin” or “in carnality”; basically you are
bent to sin and thereby separated from God.
There are those who spend their whole lives in this state of sinfulness
trying to numb their feeling of separation from God; by various endeavors.
The most notable is substance abuse of every imaginable kind. Others,
more discreet, can be hobbies and group affiliations; often you see men and
women who find they NEED to be loved so badly, that they will sacrifice most
anything to be loved. The short of what I am trying to say can be summed
up in one verse namely this: “There is no peace, saith my God, to the
wicked.” (Isaiah 57:21) This is because in man’s search for answers to
questions of uncertainty they can find no answer of peace, because only God can
give an answer of peace. You cannot find reconciliation and redemption
anywhere, but in God and through Christ. No matter how popular the book,
how gratifying the love affair, how intense the rush; no matter what it is, or
where it is coming from; if not from God, then there will be no answer of
peace. We were separated from God so we must be reconciled to God, only
then will we find true peace. Jesus told us that “my peace I give
unto, and not as the world giveth.” (John 14:27) He was
speaking of a day when the Comforter would come, and abide in the heart of the
converted. This Holy Ghost would give us an abiding peace.
Stop and imagine for me, if you will, a harsh, rugged, snow
covered mountain side; barren, dark, and cold. On it sits a small log
cabin, with two square windows on the front side and a big, heavy, wooden front
door; shut and locked. Inside the cabin through the front windows you can
see a man nestled into a comfy chair, with a warm blanket draped over his body. He is seated close to a roaring fire, with a
hot mug of coco in his hand, gazing introspectively at the fire, and glad for
shelter from the cold blizzard outside……….This is the peace of God to the
sanctified soul. It is a glorious resting place, in the fellowship of
Jesus Christ. Outside the world swirls and blows; no life can be found,
no comfort, no peace. However, inside the fellowship of Jesus Christ, the
glorious resting place of his Spirit we find peace, contentment, and comfort.
This place cannot be found through the answers of man, but only through God and
his Son Jesus
Christ.
