Prayer: Father, peace is an illusive thing when I am in turmoil. You are the giver of peace. Apart from You there is no peace. Amen.
Reading: Isaiah 57 key: vs. 20-21 “But the wicked are like a troubled sea, for it cannot rest, and its waters toss up mire and dirt. “There is no shalom,” says my God “for the wicked.” TLV
Attention: We have all seen video of the hurricanes which ravage the east coast. The damage which high winds and rain ravage upon both property and man are brutal.
Adonai is drawing a picture for Isaiah (and us) of the contrast between peace and turmoil within those who are righteous and those who are evil. Adonai tells Isaiah in the beginning of this chapter, righteous men suffer and die at the hands of evil, “but no one discerns that the righteous man is taken from evil. He enters into shalom. They rest on their beds, each who walked in his integrity” (vs. 1b-2). We have no integrity unless it is based in the righteousness of God. Integrity does not vacillate between God’s definition and the worlds.
I have seen a bumper sticker which tells it all, “Know God, Know Peace. No God, no peace.” Adonai is the foundation of peace. The righteous, though they perish, will know peace.
Adonai declares, “There is no shalom for the wicked.”
There is a line uttered by Doc Holliday in the movie Tombstone which describes the turmoil which drives evil, “”A man like Ringo’s got a great empty hole right through the middle of him and no matter what he does he can’t ever fill it. He can’t kill enough or steal enough or inflict enough pain to ever fill it. And it drives him mad. Sick mad. Cold and dirty.”
Know evil when you see it. Know evil when it speaks and reveals itself. Know evil when it boasts, and then expose it. There is no peace, apart from God.
Action: I choose to live in peace which comes from God.
Yield: I choose to surrender to the peace of God.
Engage: I choose to engage in the lifestyle of peace with God and man.
Relationship: I choose to live in obedience and intimacy with God.
Prayer: Father, I choose to live in peace with You, my family, and friends. You are the peace maker. You are the foundation of peace. Amen.
Memory Verse: Matthew 5:9 ““Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.”
Music Video: Claire Ryann Crosby—Peace in Christ https://youtu.be/dDqMRNBJwzM?si=-0mspw07OK0wVN7j
Remember, “Abide in Yeshua, today!”