But the fruit of the Spirit is … peace …
Summary: Happiness comes and goes but God’s peace is forever.
Imagine your life in total unhappiness. Everything you held dear has been taken away, or worse, trampled on and disgraced. The pain is unbearable. You cannot sleep at night or find rest during the day.
Perhaps you find yourself feeling like Job, asking:
Why is life given to a man
whose way is hidden,
whom God has hedged in?
For sighing has become my daily food;
my groans pour out like water.
What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded has happened to me.
I have no peace, no quietness;
I have no rest, but only turmoil.” (Job 3:23-26)
Now imagine that you find yourself in the same situation as Job, writing these words:
When peace like a river attendeth my way,
when sorrows like sea billows roll;
whatever my lot, thou hast taught me to say,
“It is well, it is well with my soul.”*
How is such a thing possible?
The answer is “God.” The “peace” the songwriter describes is not a momentary peace. It is a river of peace that flows through his soul. This peace does not come from any human source. It is a peace that only God can provide.
The emotions of the flesh are temporal. They come and go like waves crashing on the beach. When there is a storm, the waves are big. When life is calm, the waves are small. The emotions experienced by the flesh are always changing.
The peace of God’s Spirit is different. The peace of God is like the rock outcropping with the lighthouse on top. The waves crash against the rock, but the rock is unmoved. The rock is indifferent to the waves, no matter how big they are.
Horatio Gates Spafford, the author of the hymn “When Peace, Like a River,” wrote the words of the hymn as a memorial to his four daughters who had died at sea. The ship they were on had sunk when another boat collided with their ship. The waves of life had taken his family, but his awareness of God’s Spirit provided comfort and peace.
Peace like a river.
Application: Stay grounded in God.
Food for Thought: What is the difference between Job and Horatio Gates Spafford? Why does one have peace and the other does not?
*“When Peace, Like a River” written by Horatio Gates Spafford (1873)
I feel like the difference between these two men, at the point of reference, is that they are in different stages of grief, acceptance and trust. I think at this point with Job, he is still struggling to find a deeper level of humility. One that will increase his faith and trust in God. However, at the end of the book of Job, he writes:
Job 42:1-6
1 Then Job answered the Lord and said:
2 “I know that you can do all things,
and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
3 ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
4 ‘Hear, and I will speak;
I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
5 I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
but now my eye sees you;
6 therefore I despise myself,
and repent in dust and ashes.”
Horatio Gates Spafford word’s reflect someone who has come to humility, and acceptance, and not in a manner of apathy or quiet dismissal, but of hope. He is looking beyond his present circumstance, and looking forward to eternity. He has not decided to be at peace, rather he says peace finds him (attendeth my way) in the mist of a seas of sorrow. It is well with his soul because he understands that the present circumstances are temporary, and is placing his hope in eternity. His words reflect a Living God that seeks out to comfort one who places their trust in Him. At the point of reference, Job is not quite there yet.
Wow, Chris.
Nicely done! Excellent analysis!
Thank you!
Well done Chris!