Isaiah 26:3-4 You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on you: because he trusts in you.… In the description given of the state of the ungodly in Romans 3, the apostle Paul says: "The way of peace have they not known." There are many ways in this world — ways of sin, of disappointment, of pleasure, of death, of misery, but beside all these there is "the way of peace." I. THE PERSON WHO IS KEPT IN PEACE. He is a person whose mind is stayed on God, and who trusts in God. A man's self, and sin, and pleasure, and false religion, and vain hopes are every one of them troubled waves in one common ocean of disquietude, and no soul can stay itself upon these, though many souls have sought to be stayed upon them. Mark the mighty Rock on which such an one lieth down and findeth repose. That rock is God. Yet it is a most certain fact that our God is a consuming fire, out of Christ. Ah, you say, some of you, "I trust in God," but you know not the God you trust in. What is the sole object of faith? It is the God-man. II. THE POWER WHICH KEEPS THE BELIEVER IN PEACE. Not the power of his own faith, as some would think at first sight; not the power of his own effort, struggling to obtain confidence, as some would suppose; but the power of God. III. THE PEACE IN WHICH SUCH A PERSON IS KEPT.It is called here "perfect peace." It is like the Redeemer with his head on the pillow, with His eyes closed, with His mind in conscious repose and sleep, in the midst of the wild storm at night upon the lake of Galilee, when the waves beat upon the trembling vessel, and the clouds rolled over head, threatening to beat the waves still higher, and engulf them all. He slept secure and Peaceful amidst the storm. So does the soul of the believer, afterwards, that stayeth itself upon God. Upon what lay that peaceful head of Jesus but on the unseen arm and bosom of God? Men said of Christ mockingly, "He trusted in God." He did trust in God, as the most exalted believer, and far more than the most exalted believer; and in that simplicity of faith, amidst contending elements He was kept in peace, sleeping amidst the storm. So with the believer. And he that thus trusteth in God findeth not only that peace in life; for death to him, what is it? It is as a peaceful sunset. (H. G. Guinness.) Parallel Verses KJV: Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.WEB: You will keep whoever's mind is steadfast in perfect peace, because he trusts in you. |
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