The Life of Permanent Peace
Last week I spoke to you about (the life of surrender), and today I would like to speak to you about (the life of peace). This is because of the connection between them. For whoever surrenders their life to God undoubtedly lives in perpetual peace.
The Life of Perpetual Peace
The children of God always live in peace, assured of God’s work with them, regardless of the circumstances surrounding them.
Indeed, Scripture says it is “peace which surpasses all understanding.”
It is not a worldly peace, nor a psychological one, nor a deceptive peace, nor a numbing of the nerves. Rather, it is a peace from the Holy Spirit.
This peace is a fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22).
Whoever has the Holy Spirit dwelling in his heart lives in peace…
It is not a peace resulting from self-conceit, self-confidence, or strength of personality, but an inner peace from the Holy Spirit.
When the Lord of Glory became incarnate, the angels sang, “…and on earth peace, goodwill toward men,” proclaiming peace and joy. And before His ascension, the Lord said to His disciples, “My peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you”; “not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”
The children of God were never troubled at all; rather, their enemies were troubled when they saw them at peace, despite all their afflictions.
The phrase the priest repeats most often in the church is “Peace be with you all,” because the church wants to supply her children with peace at all times.
When Christ sent out the seventy disciples, He said to them, “Whatever house you enter, first say, ‘Peace to this house.’ And if a son of peace is there, your peace will rest on it.”
Hence, when people meet, they begin with the greeting of peace…
If people lose this peace, they become weary spiritually, psychologically, and physically… and fall into fear, disturbance, annoyance, anxiety, and doubt, as well as many nervous and physical illnesses…
Therefore, the church wants us to be filled with inner peace, to live in joy with cheerfulness ruling over us… “Rejoice in the Lord always.”
The martyrs in prisons used to chant and sing. The Apostle Paul was praising God while his feet were in the stocks in the inner prison. Peter, while imprisoned, was sleeping so deeply, in complete peace… Peace never left the martyrs, even as they went to death, even in the places of martyrdom before terrible instruments of torture.
Likewise, in the wilderness, amidst wild beasts, creeping things, and the wars of demons, the saints lived in peace and joy. St. Athanasius the Apostolic said about St. Antony the Great, “If anyone who was troubled or sorrowful in soul saw the face of St. Antony, he would be filled with peace.”
Those who are filled with peace are always found to be comforting people; they give rest to others.
If a weary person comes to them, he leaves with a joyful heart, peace having filled his heart, without them flattering or deceiving him. He may grieve over his sin, yet still be filled with peace.
Peace because he knows himself. And peace in the loving God who forgives.
How beautiful it is for a person to live in peace amidst troubles…
David was pursued by King Saul. Yet he was happy with his harp, singing a new song to the Lord, amidst his afflictions and pains.
The king tries to kill him, yet he sings to the Lord, without losing his peace. He says of his enemies: “They surrounded me like bees around honey, and blazed like a fire among thorns.” Did he lose his peace because of that? David answers: No, “I was pushed so that I was falling, but the LORD helped me”; “The LORD is my strength and song, and He has become my salvation.” This is the experience of peace that made him say:
“A thousand may fall at your side, and ten thousand at your right hand; but it shall not come near you. Only with your eyes shall you look, and see the reward of the wicked.”
David does not look at the dangers, but at God…
And in his series of trials he says, “Our soul has escaped as a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped”; “If it had not been the LORD who was on our side, when men rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us alive.”
So it is God, whom we remember in every distress, that we may be filled with peace.
David the child, before Goliath the giant, did not lose his peace, because he remembered the Lord: “I come to you in the name of the LORD of hosts”; “This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand”; “For the battle is the LORD’s, and He will give you into our hands” (1 Samuel 17).
Remembering the name of the Lord in the midst of distress grants peace: “The name of the LORD is a strong tower; the righteous runs into it and is safe” (Proverbs 18:10).
“This day the LORD will deliver you into my hand”… This is the word of a person who realizes his standing with God, and realizes God’s place in his life…
Neither Goliath the giant nor Saul who pursues him to death makes him lose his peace.
The children of God in the life of peace know no fear at all…
“Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; for You are with me”… Even in the valley of the shadow of death, he does not fear… Why? Because “He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.” The Lord delivers him from the snare of the fowler and from the peril that walks in darkness. The sun shall not strike him by day, nor the moon by night… He lives in divine protection.
A heart filled with peace says in every affliction, “All is for good.” But one who has lost peace imagines troubles where there are none. There is a power surrounding him, but his great problem is that he does not see it.
Gehazi saw only the enemy armies surrounding the city, so he lost his peace. But Elisha saw the divine power defending the city, and spoke his immortal words:
“Those who are with us are more than those who are with them.” Thus he was filled with peace.
And he asked the Lord to open the eyes of the young man Gehazi, so that he might see and be reassured. If you see only those who are against you, without seeing those who are with you and the Lord’s armies defending you, then you will lose your peace. Believe that God is with you, and that He will not leave you, and you will be filled with peace.
Whoever loses his faith loses his peace. The believer lives in peace through his faith that God exists, that He works, that He “executes justice for the oppressed,” that the Lord protects children, that He is the Ruler of all, sees everything, and governs everything.
Believe that your life is in God’s hand, and you will be filled with peace. But if you feel that your life is in people’s hands, then you will lose your peace.
God alone is the one who possesses our lives and destinies; He holds the keys of death and life. He opens and no one shuts, He shuts and no one opens. As for people, they possess nothing…
Whether we live, we live for the Lord; whether we die, we die for the Lord. Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. People have no authority over us…
Place your life, then, in God’s hand—or rather, believe completely that it is in His hand, and that all people are also in His hand—so that you may live in peace. Abraham, the father of the fathers, did not lose his peace when the Lord commanded him to offer his only son Isaac as a burnt offering to the Lord, nor did Isaac lose his peace.
The children of God do not lose their peace, even when Isaac is placed on the wood and the knife is raised over his head. As long as God is holding the hand that holds the knife, then we are reassured and do not lose our peace. Surely God will say, “Do not lay your hand on the lad, nor do anything to him.”
If you believe that you are in God’s protection, and if you remember Him, you will remember His promises: “I will never leave you nor forsake you”; “Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”; “My peace I give to you”; “I am with you always”… and your heart will be filled with peace.
The children of God are not troubled. Every problem has a solution, and has God. And every problem is for good; in it, God leads us in the procession of His triumph.
When worldly people see the peace of God’s children, they say, “These people have a secret in them.” They marvel at their peace, not realizing that its source is the Comforter Spirit, the source of all comfort…
The important thing, for us to keep our peace, is that our hearts be blameless before God. Because “There is no peace, says the LORD, for the wicked”…
If your relationship with God is shaken, you will lose your peace. If desires and lusts control you, you will also lose your peace, remaining a slave to desire: When will it be fulfilled? And how? And you become weary with desire and with waiting, and you clash with people because your interest conflicts with theirs. How true is the saying of the saint: “Renounce what is in people’s hands, and people will love you.”
To live in peace, do not carry tomorrow’s worries. Do not say, “What will happen tomorrow?” Tomorrow has a God; He takes care of it: “Do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about its own things.”
If you want to live in peace, do not carry your burdens; rather, cast them upon God who said, “Come to Me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” If you place your life in your own hand, you will be weary; if you place it in people’s hands, you will be weary. But if you place it in God’s hand, you will rest.
Do not stand alone, far from God. Do not try to solve your problems by yourself, forgetting that God is the one who solves problems. Say to Him, “Lord, I have toiled all night and caught nothing.” Or say to Him as St. Augustine said:
“Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in You.”
You cannot find your peace unless you know God, walk with Him, cast all your worries upon Him, do not think about tomorrow or about troubles, but focus your thoughts on God.
How beautiful is the saying of the Prophet David: “The proud have me in derision, yet I do not turn aside from Your law”; “Your testimonies are my meditation.”
And these rulers who are set over you? I have left them to God; He will deal with them. As for me, I meditate on His statutes, for they are my delight.
This is the way of those living in peace: problems do not grind them down, do not occupy their thoughts, do not shatter their nerves, they are not hemmed in by them, they do not carry their worries, they do not boil inside. Rather, in peace, they leave the matter to God and believe completely in His beautiful solutions, and so they rest.
The Prophet David used to pray and present his problems to God. And during his prayer, he would sense the answer, turning his request into thanksgiving. He says while asking: “Depart from me, all you workers of iniquity; for the LORD has heard the voice of my weeping; the LORD has received my prayer.”
The children of God never worry. Worry is a word that does not exist at all in their spiritual dictionary. They do not know it, nor have they experienced it… Not in the darkest moments, nor in the most exhausting matters… They live the life of perpetual joy and the life of perpetual peace, today, tomorrow, the day after, and forever and ever. Amen.
Article by His Holiness Pope Shenouda III – El-Keraza Magazine, Year Eight (Issue Thirty-Eight) – September 23, 1977
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