Four More Things That Steal Peace
I forgot about a radio interview this past week, scheduled for noon. My phone reminded me at 11:50. I scrambled to get rid of noise makers that might interfere, find information on the person interviewing me, and locate the telephone number.
I called in just two minutes before show time—only to reach a recording that said, “Your program is 1 hour 1 minute and 53 seconds away. Call back . . ..”
When the recording stopped, the line went dead. The set time had arrived, but there was nothing I could do but call back in an hour.
The frantic panic passed, but peace alluded me. I couldn’t work, because I couldn’t focus. Instead, I used the time to reconnect with God and find peace so I’d be ready for the interview.
An hour later, I was ready, called as instructed, and reached a person this time. He asked, “Is this _____?”
“No. I’m Kay Camenisch.” He didn’t seem to recognize my name, much less expect me. He said to call back in an hour. After we hung up, I called back and listened to the program as he interviewed someone else for fifteen minutes.
Then I had 40 minutes to brush aside my questions as to what was going on and to nestle into God and place my trust in Him before I placed the call again.
In retrospect, it all makes sense. The day before I had posted a blog listing Three Things That Steal Peace. Now I had a “life” illustration to accompany the listing of four more things that rob us of peace. I had already started today’s blog.
Four more things that block our peace are:
1. Bitterness
Bitterness leads to destruction and a lack of peace (Rom. 3:14, 16). When we’re bitter, we’re unhappy with the things God has allowed in our lives and thus cannot enjoy fellowship with Him. Therefore, God tells us to put away all bitterness (Eph 4:31).
2. Judgment
“There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the One who is able to save and destroy; but who are you who judge your neighbor? (Jam. 4:12). When we judge those around us, it destroys peace because we are competing with God for His place as judge.
3. Pride
“God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble” (1Pet. 5:5). The Lord designed us to depend on Him. When we think we can run our lives without Him, that’s pride. If we leave Him out, He will oppose us. However, when we humble ourselves before Him, we find grace and peace.
4. Doubt
When we doubt the goodness, care, and provision of God, our peace is replaced by fear and anxiety. However, when we have been “justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 5:1). This applies to daily life as well as to salvation.
It’d be easy to say I lost my peace because I forgot the interview, or because somebody messed up on what they told me, or that I can’t trust other people to get things right. Maybe there is an element of truth to some of that–especially that I was in a bind because I forgot.
However, my real issues were pride and fear.
I’d blown it, and I didn’t want to mess up. I want to impress the host and the listening audience. That’s pride. In addition, I was depending on myself to make it right. As I scrambled, I prayed that God would help—but I wouldn’t have been so frantic if I’d expected Him to work it out.
Once again, the Lord came through. The call was not late. Furthermore, I had time to settle down and turn my eyes and hope back on Him. I had time to replace pride and doubt with humility and faith. What looked like a delay in the appointment was God’s provision for me to find peace in Him.
The interview went well, even though it seemed obvious that the host had hurriedly gotten information about me from the internet. He was not familiar with the book at all, but he was very gracious and professional.
I lost my peace momentarily, but I quickly returned to a place of peace, because I generally experience peace in my life. I’m far from perfect in my walk. I still fail, but the Lord is faithful.
If we learn to recognize the traps and run to the Source of peace when we fail, He will always be there for us.
When you find yourself out of peace, what do you do?