Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.
John 14:27 (NKJV)
Setting up camp at the conclusion of many miles, is a special time that I always look forward to, but probably not for the main reason you may think.
Sure, it is fabulous to feel my pack slide off my back and thud to the ground for the day and to slip into some comfortable, airy sandals. I definitely enjoy my company more after getting cleaned up. 😊 My stomach oohh’s and aahh’s while enjoying a warm dinner rather than having to put up with any more snack food I shovel in all day like coal. My bones cannot thank me enough for calling it a day and for rubbing some magnesium gel into their tired muscles.
While these are all obviously coveted, anticipated and intensely appreciated blessings after a full day on the Appalachian Trail, (AT), my greatest godsend that I enjoy virtually every evening is an extra measure of peace that infiltrates and soon saturates my soul. It has been my experience that in the evening hours, in the middle of nowhere, God massages my soul with an extra measure of His peace until I am blissfully at rest in mind and heart.
This picture was taken in the one-hundred-mile wilderness in Maine, at Antler Campsite on Crawford Pond. (Most of us would call it a lake. 😊) It is my number one favorite campsite on the entire AT.
I was the only one there and I camped on a little peninsula that juts out into the pond. A beautiful sunset illuminated the heavens above, as well as cast some beautiful hues on the drifting fog below left over from a day of rain. The Loons serenaded me throughout the evening and early morning hours. A soft lapping of water along the shore melted all my stiffness into soft butter.
Now you may be thinking, “Yeah, who would not be at rest in a place like that.” True enough, but remember I said this blessed peace is something I experience virtually every night, with only few exceptions.
This campsite was not my norm, it was just an exceptional one. I have pitched my tent in some crazy places. I pitched it once in the hole a large tree created when it fell over because it was the only “flattish” place I could find after a long and wearisome hunt. The oval shape of the hole made it a little like sleeping in a hammock. Not being really flat the tent resembled a wilted flower at best, but it was a place I could call home for the night.
If you get tired enough, and it gets late enough, it IS enough. 😊 My point is, I had the same blessed peace there as at Antler Campsite. It does not matter if my campsite is the best, simply ok, or well…, just a shallow bowl-shaped hole in the ground on the side of a mountain.
If you noticed in John 14:27 God’s peace of soul is GIVEN to us, not FOUND by us. It is a gift, not an achievement. It is a heavenly peace, not an earthly one. It is something we accept by faith that God is in absolute control of the “entire universe,” not an environment we endeavor to create by trying to convince our self that we are in control of “our personal universe.”
This peace is promised to every gospel believer yet even then, we cannot assume that it will be available if we are consciously and obstinately living contrary to God’s will and Word. Otherwise, yes, we can count on it being available every day, all day long for us to enjoy.
This does not mean either though that gospel believers must be “perfect” to receive this peace; I am proof of that. 😊 It means that we must be headed in the right direction, that is towards God’s will and Word and not away from Him. The pace, number of failures, struggles, etc., do not matter as long as our journey continues to lead us towards godliness.
God’s peace is a “promise” not a “probability,” and no matter how tired, or hurting, or rested and happy I was, I consistently enjoyed this extra measure of peace as my bedfellow “virtually” every night. On those nights I did not, it was not that it was unavailable on those few other evenings, but for one reason or another I allowed situations and circumstances to get the best of me. I chose to wallow IN THEM rather than seek God’s peace THROUGH THEM.
I chose to ignore 1 Corinthians 10:13 that, No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it. (ESV)
Maybe it has been raining for several days in a row. My gear is moving from dirty and damp to muddy and soggy. The skin on my feet is so waterlogged from water gushing boots that I am beginning to get blisters and hot spots. Or maybe I have twisted an ankle, wrenched a knee or am trying to fend off a shin splint. Perhaps I was not paying attention and when the AT took a hard right or left and I continued going straight, onto another trail adding extra distance and time to get to my projected camp. Conceivably I could be missing family more than usual or have more miles to cover than food to cover them. Maybe I left a piece of gear back where I camped for the night and only realize it when I try to find it at my next campsite. There are “always” a thousand temptations to wallow in unrest.
But no matter the temptation, the fact remains that Christ offers His peace to us every day, all day long, no matter the unrest. Yet the other fact is, sometimes I still do not reach back to receive it “when I really need it the most!” How smart it that!? Not very. ☹
We choose our bedfellow, God’s peace or our unrest every night whether we are in the wilderness or somewhere else. God’s peace and our unrest stand before us offering their services throughout the day and especially at the end of the day. Each day we purposely choose who is going to journey through the day with us as well as sleep with us.
Let us chose well, not yielding to temptation but to God and His wise counsel, “Cease striving and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.” The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our stronghold. Selah. Psalm 46:10–11 (NASB95)
It may be wise for us to select two items to set on our bed-stand. Something pleasant to represent God’s peace and something nasty looking to represent our unrest. Then each night “before” we lift our feet from the floor for the last time until morning, select one of the two to throw into the drawer and leave the other sitting on the bed-stand to be our bedfellow for the night.
Faith Aids 