"It Just Seems" Part 2

"It Just Seems"  

Part 2    

    

    If in this present hour we seek to find believers most consciously aware of God's peace, we might venture to Texas, where many of our brothers and sisters in Christ have lost everything of material possession, and some have lost loved ones.  There we will find Christians who have shed many tears in the midst of loss.  There they feel the human brokenness of heart common to all in times of severe trial.  And there they look to an uncertain future, not at all knowing what it will hold.  Nevertheless, in many hearts, there we will find peace, as administered by the Prince of peace.

   "Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort, who comforteth us in all our tribulation" (II Corinthians 1:3-4).

    Nothing can hinder our Heavenly Father's ability to apply balm to the hearts of His hurting children.  We may or may not experience His comfort, depending on whether or not we seek it by faith.  Believers can surrender to the devil's temptation of bitterness, following fleshly and physical impulses to that dark place where we turn away from the Light that shines in darkness.  "Let all bitterness… be put away from you" (Ephesians 4:31).  However, the Spirit of God imitates a powerful work of comfort from the moment trouble comes, and even before as He anticipates the challenges we face.  Note that Paul declares God's comfort as present "in all our tribulation."  The Holy Spirit administers His balm whenever we require it, and as we trust the Lord, we can know His keeping and encouraging presence in the most difficult of circumstances.  

   "God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea, though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof" (Psalm 46:1-3).

    Again, today in Texas and in other venues of great loss, tear-stained faces accompany peace-filled hearts in those believers who realize that "the God of all comfort" is present, and His peace that "passeth all understanding" cannot be thwarted in those who look to Him in faith (Philippians 4:7).  Perhaps some have thought or even uttered, "It just seems…".  The Spirit of God and the Word of God nevertheless affirm the Truth of that which actually is, or rather, the Lord who is especially present when His children suffer.  Thereby brothers and sisters who will receive God's grace are learning about His peace perhaps more than ever they have known.  Moreover, they will transmit that peace in days to come as the comfort they receive becomes the comfort they administer to others.  A mere mustard seed of faith, as enabled by mountains upon mountains of grace, is all it takes to reveal peace where it seems it could not be, "the peace that passeth all understanding."

"Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you, not as the world giveth, give I unto you… These things I have spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."

(John 14:27; 16:33)

Weekly Memory Verse 

  Wherefore in all things it behooved Him to be made like unto His brethren, that He might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people.

(Hebrews 2:17)