Nov 7 - Psalm 85:8

 

I will listen to

what God the Lord says;

he promises peace to

his people, his faithful servants

— but let them not turn to folly.

Psalm 85:8

 

Sometimes there is an obvious path … and sometimes there is an unexpected turn.

 

The obvious path with this verse is a reflection on what kind of “peace” is “promise[d]” here. And to be honest, I probably would have jumped immediately to military peace rather than the brutality of war. We all want that peace.

 

On a more personal level, we want peace in our families, rather than anger and division. We all want that peace too.

 

And when two parties “listen to what God the Lord says” – whether those parties are husband-vs-wife or parents-vs-children or nation-vs-nation – then “peace” is the blessing. Unfortunately, one party or the other too often turns to selfish desires and “folly.” And the peace we desire is elusive.   

 

That’s the obvious path for today’s lesson … and the advice really is simple: “Listen to what God the Lord says” and you will discover more “peace.” Good advice.

 

But … I’m righting this immediately after writing yesterday’s devotion. In my randomly generated list of key Bible verses, yesterday’s verse also talked about peace. Colossians 3:15 invites us to “let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.”

 

That’s a different kind of peace. Instead of the battle being between two people or two nations, perhaps we also need to consider the battlefield that’s within our own hearts. In Galatians 5, the Apostle talks about desires of the flesh which are set against the fruit of the Spirit. In Romans 6, Paul explains this battlefield like this: “The good that I want to do, I do not do, but the evil that I don’t want to do, that’s the very thing I do.” The heart is a battlefield. So is the mind.

 

Do you ever feel like that? Do you want to gain a victory?

 

How?

 

Well, today’s verse tells us. It’s time – with ever more attention – that we “listen to what God the Lord says”!

 

In Christ’s Love,

a guy who realizes

that in order to see peace,

I must “listen” first

with my ears –

I must “listen to what

God the Lord says”