I talk with people who try and try again to find peace. They are spending loads of money on vacations, antidepressants, and secular counselors.

And many of them have tried religion too.

The problem is they are just seeking relief from their pain and troubles but they aren’t really looking for God.

Oh, some of them have landed in church because they got caught in their sin. Some are desperate, just trying to find peace from the chaos from their affairs, their drugs, the pain their “bad” decisions have brought on.

It’s seems they will try anything except real repentance and real surrender. They are afraid to follow God in all their ways so He can make their path straight.

They do not have a yielded heart that loves and trusts God and yearns to obey.

Oh, they want relief from their latest problem, but they still can’t seem to trust God more than they trust themselves.

But why?

I’ve found many who hold on to sin, even sin that is truly hurting them, do so because they fear what a heart determined to obey God will cost them. They think obedience will mean they lose all their freedom.

And let’s be honest, obedience to God does require a cost on our parts, in that we have to walk away from things that we have depended on to try to make ourselves happy when those are things God calls sin.

And it’s hard to do that if you don’t know God for Who He really is. But we can know Who He is, because He tells us Who He is in the most historically authenticated book in the world—

He tells us He is merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abounding in goodness and truth. ( Exodus 34:6)

His desire is that no one should perish but that all will come to repentance (2 Peter 3:9) He longs to bless His children (Isa 30:19) with rest and give them real peace that surpasses all understanding (Phil 4:7).

It’s absolutely out of kindness that God shows us sin in our lives (Rom 2:4) because disobedience ultimately always hurts us (Rom 6:16) and with disobedience, real peace will always remain elusive.

But God won’t force Himself on us. He did not create robots who have to choose Him. No, He gave us a choice to choose blessing or curse, life or death.

He says, “See, I set before you today life and prosperity, death and destruction. For I command you today to love the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, and to keep his commands, decrees and laws; then you will live and increase, and the Lord your God will bless you in the land you are entering to possess. (Deut 30:15-16)

To choose life and peace means to surrender all you know of you to all you know of Him. Though the world and the evil one will tell us differently, real peace and rest are found in obedience to God.

Choosing to trust God is one big step followed by lots of daily steps to follow what He says in His Word. (Prov 3:5-6)

But for those who will surrender their lives to Jesus, He will help you trust Him more than you trust yourself so you can find the courage to do what He says over what you feel. And what’s funny, is that it’s there when you trust God more than you trust yourself that real freedom is found for the heavy shackles of slavery to sin are no more.

Oh what peace we forfeit when we fail to surrender our lives to the One who loves us perfectly whose plans for us are exceedingly, abundantly better than the plans we have for ourselves (Eph 3:20).

Oh friend, may you taste and see the goodness of God. May you find the freedom and peace that comes from trusting Him more than you trust you. ❤️

peace

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