“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You” (Isa. 26:3 NKJ).
Part One
Perfect peace is a good translation of this phrase from the Hebrew Old Testament. In the original text the words read shalom shalom. This double word indicates a dual peace internally and externally.
This verse promises us an inner peace that stays with us 24 hours a day. According to Romans 14:17 the kingdom of God within us is righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.
Isaiah 32:17 promises us a work of inner peace that will also bring us calm confidence, settled assurance, and abiding trust. This inner peace is the one quality that can hold us together when everything in the world about us is falling apart.
When you read the newspaper and find Bible prophecies being fulfilled, you may wonder how God’s people are going to survive all the violence and turmoil ahead. Inner peace is the sustainer which will assure our holding steady in a turbulent world.
This verse also promises an external peace. Inner-city Christians have discovered this peace. Soldiers on the battlefield and workers in hectic offices and noisy factories have learned to draw from it.
Once, where I worked there was a fellow employee who enjoyed heckling me. I called on God in prayer and He gave me this verse: When a man’s ways please the Lord, He makes even his enemies to be at peace with him (Prov. 16:7 NKJ).
As a result, an external peace came into a work place where turmoil and confusion had reigned before. I discovered and enjoyed both inner and outer peace in that situation.
Excerpt permission granted by Harrison House Publishers