What is peace? At the time of Jeremiah, people thought they had all the answers and were enjoying the good life. They loved that the riches were flowing and life was easy. Income was coming in as the harvest was plentiful and people were eating more than their fill. Indulging and overabundance were common.
The church (assembly) of the time was preaching the prosperity gospel. They were telling the people that peace was for them. They could tip their hat to God and drag Him around like a sentimental rag doll in what they spoke and God would bless their works. There was peace and abundance and only ease for them in the future.
Then in the middle of living the ‘good life’ and hearing about peace, Jeremiah comes along and tells them that there was no peace. They were being lulled to sleep on the pathway to destruction. All this comfortability and indulging they were experiencing in turning away from the Lord was not the blessing of God. It was consuming the good life God had for them and sin and they should repent.
As the people heard this, they would have nothing to do with it. Their conscious was seared, and they loved the rewards of living superficially in their relationship with God. They had the benefit of being in the flow of what everyone else around them thought and was doing so they were encouraged in their beliefs.
Jeremiah told them there was disaster was coming their way. They were about to experience calamity. He was telling them that the trumpet had been sounding and their ears had been plugged. (The watchman on a tower would sound the trumpet over them in warning of being attacked.) But they just wouldn’t hear it.
Jeremiah declares, “Thus says the Lord: Stand in the ways and see, where the good way is and walk in it, and you, shall find rest for your souls. But they said, ‘We will not walk in it.’ Also I set watchmen over you, saying, ‘Listen to the sound of the trumpet.’ But they said, ‘We will not listen.’” (Jeremiah 6:16-17)
They were not to stand in the ways of society around them while drink in the abundance. Society was on a decline and it was about to spell disaster for them. Rather, they were to look to the ancient ways and follow their ancestors down a path of life. They were to no longer close their ears to the warnings God was giving them.
The result from this would be rest for their souls. This is so much different than the ‘peace’ of the prosperity they were experiencing. Instead of external circumstances supporting them, they would have a resting place in God in the midst of difficulty around them.
Rest in our souls is a serine place of refreshing where we are operating from a place of peace. Peace is a sense of stillness in our heart that comes from being in God’s presence. It is pure and without offense or tossed around by the storms of life. It is a place of trust.
Rest operates out of this place of peace as one knows and delights in God’s presence and provision. Rest is not striving or pressed to accomplish more, but content in what we have and what we are called to do. On the seventh day, God rested. He stopped laboring and delighted with great joy in the abundance He created.
We are given both peace and rest as a gift as we look to and trust God. It is our provision in the covenant through Jesus. He is both our source of rest as well as our true peace. He invites that as we come to Him, even wearied and burdened down that He will give us ongoing rest for our souls.
The ancient path that brings peace and rest is that of a life in covenant with God. As people enter into the covenant through Jesus and then set aside hallowed time that they could be gaining more by being productive just to be with Him, they are taking Sabbath. And the fruit of taking Sabbath is rest.
Do we ever just sit back and enjoy God and all He created? Do we drink it in? Setting aside a day to do this is called Sabbath. It is actually commanded in the Bible that one of every seven days are set aside for the Lord. In following this as part of keeping covenant with God, it gives us a rest that spills over into every other area of our lives through the week.
The results of not entering this rest but choosing instead to covet and strive to produce more, they did not hear the warning of the Shofar. One has to be in a place of rest, setting aside time to listen, to be able to hear the warning sound of the Shofar that disaster was coming their way and they needed to prepare for it.
The Shofar, besides warning us of difficulty, tells us about the coming of Jesus and the judgements that come before His return during the tribulation. Many have looked at the difficulty around them and now think that Jesus is returning as we are seeing the signs of the world growing darker and calamity after calamity.
But how many have stopped and set aside the time to listen for the Shofar? Have we listened and heard the sounding of the alarm? Are we still before God long enough to hear it? I would like to suggest that it has been going off for some time and people’s ears are becoming more open to listen and hear it as the darkness ensues.
Some years back, maybe a year or so before COVID, the Holy Spirit gave me a song to remember. It went like this, “Hey yo, sunset low, get a little high, get a little low.” It had to do with people’s emotions being impacted by the darkness around them. Today we see emotions reeling, not from a place of peace but a place of fear and darkness. We have seen flares of anger, rage, riots, addictions and suicides increase immensely as people struggle with their emotions. This suggests the sun has set on this previous era.
Just like in the time of Jeremiah, the trumpet sounds as to warn us to take shelter. It tells us of what is coming so we can prepare and get to a safe place. Where do we go to shelter from the storm? The wisdom of Proverbs tells us to look to Jesus as our Strong Fortress. Proverbs 18:10-11 tells us that the Name of the Lord is a strong tower that the righteous can run into and be safe.
The world’s way is to trust in riches and self-sufficiency. This verse in Proverbs goes on to say that rich man’s own wealth is his strong city and the high wall around him is conceit. Those who choose to take shelter in their own self-sufficiency will find it cannot sustain them during difficult times. They are left longing for rest.
People do not often see when they are trusting in the wrong things. Like the time of warning in Jeremiah, the people thought they were just fine and all was good. They trusted in their man-made religion and went on their merry way until difficulty was upon them and they found it could not sustain them. The heart is more deceitful than all things so the Lord tests it [through difficulty] and gives to each man according to their ways (Jeremiah 17:9-10).
It is not our circumstances but our relationship with God that dictates if we have rest and peace. If we are truly trusting in the Lord, no matter what we face, our lives will demonstrate a true calm spirit, rest in our hearts and a blanket of peace as He covers us in His love. Where the Lord abides there is rest, peace, unspeakable joy and victory over the spirit of this world. [1]
Just as the time in Egypt when the plagues came, when national difficulty comes, there is a greater separation and clear division between those who genuinely trust in the Lord and those who trust in their own strength and self-sufficiency. Those whose confidence is in their own capabilities and resources will find disappointment, failure and suffer lack. (Jeremiah 17:5-8) Whereas those who trust in the Lord, will arise and shine the light of glory; They will go out like calves from the stall bringing joy and healing to the nations.
From a place of strength and protection in the name Jesus, we don’t hide from the darkness but enter the battle. We push back the darkness in every step we take to move towards others in love, comfort, peace and healing. From a place of rest, we bring the shining Light of the new day that is dawning. Just like the Israelites coming out of Egypt, we find that today is the day of power, freedom and bounty.
“O Lord, my strength and my fortress, and my refuge in the day of affliction, the nations will come to You from the remote parts of the earth, and will say: Surely our fathers have inherited lies, vanity, and things in which there is no profit. Shall a man make gods for himself, which are not gods? Therefore, surely I will this once cause them to know, I will cause them to know My hand and My might; and they shall know that My name is the Lord.”
