Jehovah Shalom, the LORD our Peace

Earlier this year I watched the TV series “The House of David”, and there is a scene where David is collecting stones and Jonathan is questioning who he is and also expressing his doubt that God is with them. David chides Jonathan for forgetting the old stories of redemption and focusing more on the greatness of the giant than on the greatness of God and says, “God is not with them as they cower in fear – He is only with them as they face their fears.”

This has been ruminating in my mind as I consider the fears before us. To see the greatness of God displayed takes steps on our part as well. God did not provide the ram for Abraham until Isaac was placed on the alter. The Red Sea did not split until Moses stretched out his hand. Goliath did not fall until David stepped out onto the battle field. The redemption of sins were not paid for until Jesus went to the cross.

Each story displays the power of God at work as man faces his fears head on in faith and obeys that which the Lord had commanded.

What fears lay before you now that you are cowering in? Instead of walking through the emergencies before you, have you been lingering off to the side seeking away to walk around them? Perhaps it is time to step onto your battlefield and take up God’s sword and shield and face your fears (Eph. 6:10-18). It is there the greatness of God will be displayed .

Maltbie D. Babcock said, “Pay as little attention to discouragement as possible. Plow ahead like a steamship, which moves forward whether facing rough or smooth seas, and in rain or shine. Remember, the goal is simply carry the cargo and to make it to port.”

As believers our port is God, Jehovah Shalom. The cargo we carry is His gospel and the steamship we ride is His vessel. We have nothing to fear if we are in Christ.

2 Chronicles 15:2 says “… ‘Listen to me, Asa, and all Judah and Benjamin: Yahweh is with you when you are with Him. And if you seek Him, He will be found; but if you forsake Him, He will forsake you.’”

Are you with Him? Are you seeking Him — our Jehovah Shalom, our God of peace? Not peace when all is calm, but also when all is raging around us, when the fears and terrors of this world engulf us. Peace in the storm. Peace in the terror of the night. Peace in the anguishes of the heart.

How foolish humans are. We think to achieve peace everything must be calm, friendly, happy, and not at odds with one another. But true peace is irrespective of our circumstances. It does not change because it is fixed on Jehovah Shalom who is the God of Peace in everything, in all seasons, all the time (Is. 26:3).

I’ll end with an excerpt from a book I read this morning. As you read, may you meditate on God and see Him as He is. May He embolden you to face your fears because God is with you, He goes before you, and it is He who will fight your battles. Will you take the step of obedience onto the battlefield before you? It is there His greatness, love, and care for you will powerfully be displayed.

"He is our peace." Yes, peace, perfect peace, should steal over any man's soul when Jehovah has shown that He will meet every possible need— the need of bravery, the need of wisdom, the need of power, and the need of supplies wherewith to meet every enemy, and to become the deliverer of his people. The LORD sends peace to the man who trusts Him, because He wishes to make use of him; and we shall never be strong for the LORD till we are strong in the LORD, and we never shall be strong in the LORD till we accept Him for what He is. This is faith, and "faith in God" is, as we know, the one and only thing which the LORD Jesus demands of His disciples (Mark 11: 22-23); and then, as He assured us, we can bid mountains be removed.

For if we believe in "Jehovah Jireh," "The LORD will provide ;" if we have realised "Jehovah Rophi," "The LORD is my Healer;" if we have taken in the full force of the words "Jehovah Nissi," "The LORD is my Banner," and then looked upon Him as "Jehovah M'qaddishkhem," "The LORD my Sanctifier" —we ought surely to be able to say with boldness: "The LORD is my peace, or helper, and I will not fear what man can do unto me." "God has called us to holiness," because He would have us utterly His own, and wishes us to delight in Him alone, when "we see Him as He is"; but our enjoyment of God hereafter must depend entirely upon our faith in Him while upon earth, and upon the measure in which we accept the strength that He gives as "Jehovah Shalom, the LORD our peace."

But, once again, we must carefully notice the words: " Peace be unto thee, thou shalt not die." What a glorious assurance is here given that it is to life, and not to death, that Jehovah is ever calling His chosen vessels of grace. To us, as to Gideon, He comes to give life; and to each soul that will hear Him He says: " Peace, peace, thou shalt not die." Let us seek to realise the full force of these words. It matters not how sinful, vile, and helpless we may be : even the worm may look up into the face of Jehovah, with no sense of terror and with no thought of judgment against him when once he has heard and believed these words: "Peace be unto thee; fear not: thou shalt not die."

And what is this but to realise St. Paul's words to the Romans, where, after depicting the universal depravity of man, and the marvellous provision of God in Christ Jesus our LORD, he breaks forth into that joyful cry (chap. v. 1): "Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ.”

….For, what is " Peace"? It means the application of the power of Jehovah to all circumstances and conditions; and if rightly understood this cannot do less than produce a great calm, & holy stillness, an unruffled surface, which not even the most untoward external events can touch.”

(H. W. Webb-Peploe, The Titles of Jehovah, 121-122, 127).