Peace Beneath His Wing

We were talking about what peace looks like and my friend shared with me the story she had told the children at church. She spoke of an art contest to illustrate peace. Many people entered the contest some with beautiful pastoral scenes, some showed pictures of people playing along a seashore but the picture that won the contest portrayed a violent storm. All around there was chaos and confusion produced by the howling winds and the turbulent waters but in the corner of picture a mother bird sat on her nest in the cleft of a rock with her protective wing sheltering a baby bird who was sleeping peacefully oblivious of the storm raging all around.

I believe this is the kind of peace God invites us to experience in the midst of the turbulence we often find in life. Isaiah 26:3 says, "You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is stayed on you, because he trusts you." This doesn't speak of an absence of trouble but of a mind that is staying focused on something other than the insecurity that comes the tempestuous storms of life. In fact Isaiah goes to tell us that we are to trust in the Lord forever, because the LORD God is an everlasting rock. He is not only our place of protection but He Himself is the LORD of the storm. He will give us the peace we crave when we give Him our trust.

Being still in the middle of a storm is not natural. I have know what it is to cry out in the night overwhelmed by threatening circumstances beyond my control. I understand how a small child feels who is awakened in the night by the crashing sound of thunder and the blinding sight of a lightning flash. However, I also know the comfort that a child feels when her cries are met with the kind and comforting presences of her father. In Psalms I find an invitation not only to trust in the Lord at all times but also to pour out my heart to Him. I can trust Him and I can pour out my heart to Him because, "God is out refuge." (Psalm 62:8)

I see the storms not only in my own life but in the lives of those around me. I want to call out from this place of safety that there is a peace that surpasses all comprehension. This is a peace that is not only found in the quiet places in our lives but also in the places that bring with them deep anxiety. There is a rock of salvation who offers us a hiding place. Christ Jesus stands with arms opened wide offering the peace of God to all who will put their trust in Him. Though the storm of life is raging all around us He will guard both the heart and mind of those who seek shelter beneath His wing of protection.