Peace Like a River (but not a Texas river)

Peaceful Summer Series

I’ve got peace like a river,

I’ve got peace like a river,

I’ve got peace like a river in my soul.

Photo by Vitaliy Dragun on Unsplash

Do you remember that childhood song?

A couple weeks ago we experienced flash floods and dangerous conditions around our city. Near by rivers rose so high that the news said “cars, houses and cows were at risk of being swept away”.

Those song lyrics came to my mind and I thought about how here in South Texas, “peace like a river” doesn’t work very well as an analogy. We either have significant drought, with dry river beds, or we have floods that cause destruction.

A perfect river, in my mind, would be steadily flowing water that ripples over rocks and is deep enough to swim, kayak or paddle board. The water would nourish the tall cypress trees that grow along the banks. It would be cool and shady, a protection from the hot summer sun. It would a place where deer come to drink and fish swim happily. There wouldn’t be any of the scary Texas snakes, and my girls would want it free of any algae or other slimy vegetation.

I associate peace with calm and perfection.

But God’s peace is not dependent on our circumstances or the height of the water. In fact, God’s peace sometimes has an inverse relationship with chaos. We assume that we can only have peace when life is going the way we want. But Jesus said “I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33).

And in Isaiah 40 we are given this beautiful word picture of how God sustains us and covers us with all that we need when life is at it’s most challenging:

²⁷Why do you say, O Jacob,
and speak, O Israel,
“My way is hidden from the Lord,
and my right is disregarded by my God”?
²⁸ Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the Creator of the ends of the earth.
He does not faint or grow weary;
his understanding is unsearchable.
²⁹ He gives power to the faint,
and to him who has no might he increases strength.
³⁰ Even youths shall faint and be weary,
and young men shall fall exhausted;
³¹ but they who wait for the Lord shall renew their strength;
they shall mount up with wings like eagles;
they shall run and not be weary;
they shall walk and not faint.

So God promises us his peace in a tumultuous world, but what does that look and feel like when the river of life is dry or flooded?

The dictionary defines peace in several ways. The first definition is what we talked about last week. The idea of not being in a warring or antagonistic relationship. Salvation brings peace because it transforms our relationship with God that was once defined by strife and rebellion. Because of Christ there is now no enmity between us and God - we are at peace with him. It is richer than a truce. This peace cannot be taken away. It’s been paid for by the blood of Jesus.

But another definition of peace is having our minds freed from things like annoyance, distraction, anxiety, or obsession (dictionary.com).

Notice that it doesn’t say life is free from the things that cause those emotions… but rather peace is no longer being enslaved to those emotions. Of course we will find ourselves annoyed, distracted or anxious. But for those that are in Christ, we are no longer defined by those feelings.

Life can bring drought or flood, but we are not defined by our fear, anger, or anxiety about those things. Christ gives us his peace, and that looks like us finding our identity in who God says we are rather than in our circumstances and our initial responses to those things.

I don’t know what your caregiving experience is like this summer. My experience is going up and down every day… but I’m clinging to God’s peace and remembering that each day he will renew my strength, remind me of what is true, and set me free from obsessing over life’s emotional rollercoaster.

May that peace cover you this week as well.

-Marissa