The Peace which Surpasses All Comprehension

4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

I love what Dr. Gordon Fee says about this verse:

"Because the God to whom we pray and offer thanksgiving, whose ways are higher than ours, is also totally trustworthy, our prayer is accompanied by His peace. And that, not because He answers according to our wishes, but because His peace totally transcends our merely human way of perceiving the world. Peace comes because prayer is an expression of trust, and God’s people do not need to have it all figured out in order to trust Him!"

The fleshly mind bases it’s "peace" on whether things are going "my way". A fleshly mind in a Christian would base peace on whether God has given what we’ve asked for in prayer. But real peace surpasses the fleshly understanding. It is based not on the answer to prayer but on the prayer itself. It is based on having "cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you." (1Pet.5:7)

Peace that is dependent on circumstances is human, earthly peace. Even those who don’t know Christ can have that . The kind of peace God has for us is peace that stands even when the world appears to be caving in:

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and though the mountains slip into the heart of the sea.” (Psalm 46:1-2)

This is also the kind of peace that will bear faithful witness to the power of God in Jesus Christ. The worse the circumstances, the more the peace surpasses human understanding. And the more the peace surpasses human understanding, the more attention it draws to the fact that God is at work in His people.

Heavenly Father, please may Your peace reign in my heart. The world around me is scary and the pressures are great. But I know that You dwell in perfect peace and that those who trust You come to the source of true peace. Teach my heart to rest in You, my Father. Teach my heart to rest in Your strong arms.