Years ago, a major art gallery sponsored a competition for painters and they were offering prizes for the best painting on the subject of "Peace." The painting that won was a real surprise. The scene was the ocean in a violent storm. The sky was ominous, the lightning was cutting across the sky, and the waves were crashing into the rock walls of the cliffs by the shore. Where was the peace? You had to look twice to understand what was going on. There, about halfway up the cliff, was a birds' nest tucked into a tiny hollow in the rock. A mother bird was sitting on that nest with her little babies tucked underneath her, sleeping soundly. That was peace!
Peace is not just the absence of a storm, but rest in the middle of the storm. Many of us could use that kind of peace right now, and it is the kind of peace that you can have right now if you're resting where you ought to be.
As our headlines have become dominated with new dangers and so many hearts have been struggling with new anxieties and fears, we're ready for the incredible peace offered in Psalm 46. It is good news for troubled times and should be our word for every day! "God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble." The more troubled things are, the more present God makes Himself. The psalmist then says, "Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging." Everything's collapsing, even things that have always been there for us. Have no fear because "God is our refuge and strength."
The psalm continues with verse 4 saying, "There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells." God lives today in those who belong to Him through faith in Jesus. "God is within her, and she will not fall...Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall...the Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress" (verse 5-7). Then, as everything seems to be melting down, God says, "Be still, and know that I am God" (Psalm 46:10).
Okay, turn off the news, leave those other voices, and get where you can just be with God. Realize that as long as you're in His hands, there's no such thing as out of control. He is still God and you are still His!
If you have never given yourself to Jesus, the man who died for you, there's never been a better time than this. With so much changing today and so much uncertainty, it is so great to know you are safe in a relationship with Him. If you've never begun that relationship, tell Him you want to today. When you are nesting in the care of the Lord Jesus Christ, you can rest through any storm. You can belong to the One who gives peace in the middle of the storm.