In Perfect Peace!

I am continuing to find ways to adapt to the deficits caused by my stroke. The biggest ongoing challenge is excessive sensory input overload. Basically, what that means is my brain gets easily overstimulated, causing it to melt down. In my new normal, in order to not create too much chaos in my brain, I am very intentional about trying center my attention on only one person or one thing at a time, blocking out any other stimuli that my brain also tries to focus upon. As I work on improving my focus and attention, memory, processing, problem-solving by using cognitive strategies, it takes tremendous effort and energy just to complete a single task from beginning to end, easily turning peace and calm into chaos.

Let me ask you – as you go about your day, and quite possibly also as you roll around restless and sleepless during the night, is your mind at peace or is it bouncing from thing to thing? The Bible tells us that even in the midst of busyness and chaos, if we stay attuned to God, we can find calmness and peace. Easy, no. Possible, yes. In Isaiah 26:3 we find this promise, “You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed upon you, because he trusts in you.”

Bible translations (ESV, NASB, KJV, NKJV, and others) that tend to be literal in their word-to-word adherence to the original language use the word stayed; not a word we regularly use in modern language. Translations (NIV, NLT, RSV, and others) that strive to convey the meaning of the text rather than its original form, called thought-for-thought, tend to use language more common to today – “whose minds are steadfast” (NIV) or “whose thoughts are fixed upon you” (NLT). The third translation method is paraphrase, of which the most familiar would The Message and The Living Bible.

That word stayed comes from a Hebrew word that literally means “to prop, or to lean, lay, rest, support,” or in other words, settled upon. In my study of the Hebrew word samak (stayed in Isaiah 26:3 above), I find several other usages, here is just two – we will be sustained (Psalm 3:5), we will be upheld (Psalm 71:6). Matthew 22:37 tells us, “You shall love the Lord with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” We are also instructed to not set our minds on earthly things, but rather, on things that are above (Colossians 3:2). And if we allow ourselves to be, we can have the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16) and be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:2).

I also find it interesting that in this context the word for perfect is shalom. The ancient Hebrew concept of peace, rooted in the word shalom, meant wholeness, completeness, soundness, carrying with it a sense of permanence. So, this verse literally says peace, peace.

If we keep our minds stayed upon Yahweh, we are promised perfect peace. Perfect peace is not a life free from turmoil or struggle or conflict. In John 16:33, Jesus tells us that life is full of things to worry about or keep us up at night. So then, just what is this perfect peace we are promised? This peace is not tangible or visible, but rather, it is a gift offered to us by Jesus that soothes our heart, mind, and soul in those times of trouble that He said we would have. As Jesus was saying his earthly goodbye to his disciples, we find these words in John 14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts (and I parenthetically add minds and souls) be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”

Amid the chaos that is often life as we know it, there can also be peace and calm. Have you ever quietly sat in the shade under a tree and experienced a temporary peace and calm flooding your soul as your mind centered (stayed) itself upon the rustling of the leaves as a gentle breeze blows through the tree? A more lasting peace and calm comes when we keep our minds stayed upon the Lord.

Will you do so right now?

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