PEACE

My cousin Hannah sent me a part of her Beth Moore Bible study that dealt with peace and grief. I thought it was good and I wanted to share it with you. I have almost survived this 3 month anniversary. I just pray that as I leave work that I will be able to keep it together. Thanks for all the sweet comments, emails and calls today.


Christ experienced peace in the midst of tears. Why did Christ Jesus cry? Because He saw the tears of His loved ones (v. 33-35). He “demonstrated His own love” with tears of anguish, yet all the while His peace remained. Please understand this vital point of peace: peace means the absence of fear and turmoil, not the absence of pain and grief. It greatly concerns me when I fail to see those who have lost loved ones shed tears in the name of “peace.” Christ, Himself, grieved over the separation of loved ones as shown here in John 11, in the garden of Gethsemane and, finally, on the cross as He saw His mother’s pain and suffered the separation from His Heavenly Father.
We can be filled with sadness and still possess a wonderful sense of God’s peace. Perhaps it is at that moment beyond all others when the peace of God’s transcends all understanding. God is not a proponent of emotional annihilation. But He gives us specific instructions regarding those emotions.
“Trust in Him at all times, O people;
pour out your heart to Him,
for God is our peace.”
Our goal is not the absence of sorrow in our grieving, but rather that we refuse to grieve “as those who have no hope” (1 Thess. 4:13). Perhaps right now you are walking through at time when the obvious actions of Christ in your behalf seem inconsistent with His professed love for you. Oh, Beloved, can you see today that it is quite consistent with our Savior to:
• go for the greater glory?
• Have us be void of all other explanations?
• Wait until many surround us who may put their faith in Him?
If you believe Him, He will show you His glory. Guaranteed.