How Long Must We Wait for Peace?

How Long Must We Wait for Peace?

Good Morning Friends,

Today and tomorrow through my work and partnerships with the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame, Leadership Foundations and Communities in Schools, One by One Leadership Foundation will be blessed with the engagement of 25 Basketball Hall of Famers. They have made a mark in the sport and are now giving back. Some were once adversaries but now are gathering together as friends to help youth succeed in life by helping to raise funds for mentoring and by inspiring youth at basketball clinics in Naples and Immokalee. The experiencing of it is difficult for me because at the same time these joyous events are happening, and forgive me for getting a bit personal, but my 93 year old mother is slowly dying, rarely speaking, and with strong spirit just barely clings to life. She is not fearful and has had an amazing life, but now is too weak to do most anything but love. So today I pray she has hope…the kind that turns adversaries into friends…the kind that is the gateway into the promise of peace. She has stopped eating and for the most part drinking and taking her medications. I do pray from my heavy heart that she has comfort even as I morn with her. For somehow morning brings comfort as the Beatitudes suggest. So as I started reading scripture today I first took a few moments of silence to connect to our Lord in a prayer. I prayed and continued to pray from the heart that the promise of peace that Isaiah prophesied would become a reality in our lifetime…a peace that passes understanding even for my mother so close to the veil. Then in addition my prayer continues on this Presidents Day that the leaders of the world would think peace not just something to hope for, but a promise of God that we have just not yet received. I pray heart to heart asking the Lord to comfort my grief for my mother and to comfort all our family in Heavenly Grace and Love…to comfort the world. And yet still I ask, How Long Must We Wait for Peace?

Scripture:Bottom of Form ⁴He shall judge between the nations, and shall arbitrate for many peoples; they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning-hooks; nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

Isaiah 2:4 (NRSV)

Trust in him at all times, O people; pour out your heart before him; God is a refuge for us.  Selah

Psalm 62:8 (NRSV)

¹The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold^* of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? ²When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh—my adversaries and foes—they shall stumble and fall. ³Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident. ⁴ One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple. ⁵ For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock. ⁶ Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord. ⁷ Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! ⁸‘Come,’ my heart says, ‘seek his face!’ Your face, Lord, do I seek. Do not hide your face from me⁹. Do not turn your servant away in anger, you who have been my help. Do not cast me off, do not forsake me, O God of my salvation! ¹⁰ If my father and mother forsake me, the Lord will take me up. ¹¹Teach me your way, O Lord, and lead me on a level path because of my enemies. ¹²Do not give me up to the will of my adversaries, for false witnesses have risen against me, and they are breathing out violence.¹³ I believe that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living. ¹⁴Wait for the Lord; be strong, and let your heart take courage; wait for the Lord!

Psalm 27 (NRSV)

⁵⁴When this perishable body puts on imperishability, and this mortal body puts on immortality, then the saying that is written will be fulfilled: ‘Death has been swallowed up in victory.’⁵⁵ ‘Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?’ ⁵⁶The sting of death is sin, and the power of sin is the law. ⁵⁷But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.

1 Corinthians 15:54-57 (NRSV)

54’Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5  7’Blessed are the merciful, for they will receive mercy. 8 ‘Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 ‘Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.10 

Matthew 5:4, 7-9 (NRSV)

Message: My question is probable the wrong question for we still battle today. We must wait on the Lord for as long as it takes. Thankfully in today’s scripture David offers some advice on spiritual warfare born out of the real battles he faced in life. He teaches that confidence is not the absence of trouble or the memory of a victory, but the presence of God in our lives. So too it is in death I think. David was a man seeking the presence of God. He was after God’s heart. He wanted intimacy with God, to see His face, to be adopted by our Lord as a child of God. In his lament he seeks the endurance to take heart… to stay with God. To nurture the relationship David seeks God through learning, prayer, worship and obedience. And as David focuses on God, his fears disappear, his anxiety is conquered. David is victorious because of his relationship with God.  If we seek victory we must turn our thoughts to God and seek His presence as well. We are to seek Him as if our life depends on it. And it does, for in life as in death we need Jesus. We are to seek Him with an attitude of worship… an overwhelming desire to live in His salvation and an unquenchable desire to dwell with Him and see Him in all His beauty and in all of His glory. Friends, keep growing in the Lord. Stay with God even in the silence for with prayer, faith, love, and service comes peace. Wait on the Lord.

Pray we do not grow bitter in the face of death. Pray we find a joy in unexpected places. Pray that we are aware of the loving hand of Jesus in our lives…a love that never dies. Pray in the fruit of silence in the presence of God. Pray in faith beyond hope that we grow as we love and are loved. Pray our love births service. And pray our service bears the fruit of peace that Isaiah foretold.  Pray we have victory in Jesus.

Blessings,

John Lawson