by Bryan Thomas Schmidt, M.A.
Luke 10:5 "5"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.'"
I am lying in bed tonight as exhausted as I have ever been. Never a fan of exercise, my out of shape body has been beaten beyond measure by two days of moving, and facing another one tomorrow fills me with dread. Things did not go as expected or as planned. My wife and I are both stressed and fighting to not take it out on each other. Then I stumble upon Luke 10:5. Here I am in our new house and peace is the furthest thing from my mind. I have no peace and expect no peace until this move is over and we have settled in, and that will be weeks from now.
Yet peace is ultimately what I crave here. We both do. Who wouldn't want a peaceful home? Sometimes the scriptures instructions are hard to follow, and sometimes they seem beyond understanding. Though it is simple, at a moment like this, this passage is one of those for me. I feel no peace in a place I am moving to to find peace. Irony at it best, right? But yet God is here waiting for me to notice and longing to give me just that: peace. Knowing that the source of my stress and lack of peace rests in myself and not outward circumstances.
Yes, I know it, too -- I am stressed because of me. Stressed because I am physically out of shape. Stressed because a one day move is now turning into three or four days because we just didn't prepare as well as we should have. Stressed because once work resumes tomorrow we will not have a full day to just get in there and get it done, but will instead be relegated to finishing our already long work days with cleaning out remnants of our life from an old apartment and preparing it for someone else. And knowing this doesn't give me peace.
So often it seems our own frailty and sinful nature get in the way of God's desires for us. God desires so much for us. God makes so much available, and yet we fail to open ourselves to receive it again and again. But instead of giving up in frustration, He is there waiting, patiently, longing for what we don't even know is available to long for to happen for us. He alone is the source of true peace. And He alone can offer what we crave the most: peace.
Wouldn't you like to know true peace? Wouldn't you like to know what God really has in store for you? A God who loved you so much He died for you and now waits longingly to give you your heart's desires? Who wouldn't want to know a God like that? He is waiting for you today.
PRAYER: Oh Lord, help me to know the peace that only you can provide. Come into my heart and my life and grant me true, everlasting peace. Amen.
© 2008 Bryan Thomas Schmidt/Anchored Music Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. No reproduction without written permission.
Luke 10:5 "5"When you enter a house, first say, 'Peace to this house.'"
I am lying in bed tonight as exhausted as I have ever been. Never a fan of exercise, my out of shape body has been beaten beyond measure by two days of moving, and facing another one tomorrow fills me with dread. Things did not go as expected or as planned. My wife and I are both stressed and fighting to not take it out on each other. Then I stumble upon Luke 10:5. Here I am in our new house and peace is the furthest thing from my mind. I have no peace and expect no peace until this move is over and we have settled in, and that will be weeks from now.
Yet peace is ultimately what I crave here. We both do. Who wouldn't want a peaceful home? Sometimes the scriptures instructions are hard to follow, and sometimes they seem beyond understanding. Though it is simple, at a moment like this, this passage is one of those for me. I feel no peace in a place I am moving to to find peace. Irony at it best, right? But yet God is here waiting for me to notice and longing to give me just that: peace. Knowing that the source of my stress and lack of peace rests in myself and not outward circumstances.
Yes, I know it, too -- I am stressed because of me. Stressed because I am physically out of shape. Stressed because a one day move is now turning into three or four days because we just didn't prepare as well as we should have. Stressed because once work resumes tomorrow we will not have a full day to just get in there and get it done, but will instead be relegated to finishing our already long work days with cleaning out remnants of our life from an old apartment and preparing it for someone else. And knowing this doesn't give me peace.
So often it seems our own frailty and sinful nature get in the way of God's desires for us. God desires so much for us. God makes so much available, and yet we fail to open ourselves to receive it again and again. But instead of giving up in frustration, He is there waiting, patiently, longing for what we don't even know is available to long for to happen for us. He alone is the source of true peace. And He alone can offer what we crave the most: peace.
Wouldn't you like to know true peace? Wouldn't you like to know what God really has in store for you? A God who loved you so much He died for you and now waits longingly to give you your heart's desires? Who wouldn't want to know a God like that? He is waiting for you today.
PRAYER: Oh Lord, help me to know the peace that only you can provide. Come into my heart and my life and grant me true, everlasting peace. Amen.
© 2008 Bryan Thomas Schmidt/Anchored Music Ministries, Inc. All Rights Reserved. International Copyright Secured. No reproduction without written permission.
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