Guarded by Peace
4:7 And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
If God’s people will bring their burdens to God in thankful prayer, then God will give them His peace to guard their hearts and thoughts from anxiety and worry. This is God’s promise here.
The peace Paul has in mind here is deeper and richer than our English notion of peace. It is the Hebrew SHALOM, which means total well-being, fullness of life and wholeness.
Which one of us does not want peace? Let’s break down Paul’s teaching here in order to clarify how we can find this peace:
1- There is a rich and wonderful peace that God’s people can enjoy no matter what the circumstances.
2- This peace is not automatic. It does not just spontaneously appear in a person’s heart.
3- This peace that surpasses all human comprehension is a gift of God. It is His to give or to withhold. It is not something that can be humanly generated.
4- God does not give this gift of peace to everyone, not even to every believer.
5- This gift of God’s peace is not given arbitrarily. God assigns certain conditions by which His children might receive this gift. No one should expect to receive it without first fulfilling those conditions.
6- Though the secret to obtaining this peace is prayer, it is not just any prayer that qualifies.
7- The first necessary quality of the prayer that is in mind here is that of bringing one’s requests (i.e. burdens, needs, etc.) to God. This implies a focused, intense presentation of one’s situation before the holy and living God.
8- The second necessary quality of this prayer is the giving of thanks, which implies a faithful recognition of the goodness and the sovereignty of the God to whom we pray, as well as a recognition of God’s faithfulness in the past.
9- If these conditions are met, God promises that He will send His peace. It is not something that God might do but something He will do.
10- The peace that God sends will guard the heart and the thoughts from the anxiety that might otherwise be experienced if the believer did not bring his burdens to God in believing prayer.
11- This divine peace guards the people of God "in Christ Jesus." That is, this peace is a result of what Christ did and is experienced only in the context of His salvation and presence through the Holy Spirit in a believer’s life.
Father, forgive me for how many times I have longed for peace but not followed Your instructions about how to get it. Please teach me the discipline of coming to You with my cares. Thank You for Your great compassion and Your readiness to take my burdens. Thank You that You care about me. And yet thank You also that You don’t give me peace until I come to You for it in humble and trusting prayer.