This is an excerpt from one of my January 2012 posts. It deals with something my sister and I talked about last night (on our super fun sister-date to Brave New!) that I think is particularly relevant for women. I’ve posted a few follow-up thoughts at the end…
Peace vs. Understanding
Philippians 4:6-7 tells us not to be anxious about anything, but to approach God in prayer and thanksgiving, to let Him know our needs. The promise is that if we do this, His peace, which surpasses all understanding, will guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. I’ve always taken that last part, you know, the peace that passes understanding, and figured that was just referring to a peace so amazing, so profound, that it couldn’t be understood. But is that what it really means? What exactly is a peace that surpasses understanding? What does it mean to ‘surpass’ something? Webster defines it as this:
sur·pass 1: to become better, greater, or stronger than
It’s that ‘to become better’ that grabs me. And I wonder: is the worth of this peace perhaps not that it is so profound it can’t be understood, but that it actually replaces our need to understand, this untamed craving to know and have all of our questions answered? Think about it. The peace of God, a peace that is capable of guarding your heart and mind in Christ, is far more valuable than being able to understand whatever it is you’re going through. Having all the answers won’t guard my heart, won’t protect my mind. If anything, having the answers will only lead me to more questions. I know full well that the only power capable of guarding my heart and mind is the power of God’s peace. And yes, I would rather have that peace than a detailed explanation of how my future will play out.
I was actually in a situation not long ago where the outcome, or at least the next step or series of steps, was revealed to me. It brought me zero peace. And then it raised about fifty more questions. So yeah. I’m thinking heart-guarding peace of God is a much better option. It’s hard to shift our focus from the outcomes to the Truth, though. But when we stop and really look at that Truth – that the One who plans every outcome is not only all-knowing, all-wise and all-powerful, He is full of love and grace and mercy and He eagerly desires to bless His children, to show them compassion – our hunger for answers seems to subside. Because the answer our souls are really after? It’s just that: God loves us. He plans good things for us. He always works everything together for our good.
Always.