“All right then, the Lord himself will give you the sign. Look! The virgin will conceive a child! She will give birth to a son and will call him Immanuel (which means ‘God is with us’).”
– Isaiah 7:14
When do you say peace reigns in your heart?
Once there was a young man that approached an old sage (a wise person). The young man wanted to know the real meaning of peace. The wise man showed him two beautiful paintings. One canvas was of a calm lake; it reflected the lofty mountains all around it and the blue sky with soft and cottony clouds above the lake. The man thought it was an impeccable image of peace.
Then the other painting was shown to him.
It had mountains too, but craggy and barren. Overhead was an angry sky. Rain was falling and lightning frolicking. On the side of the mountain was a waterfall and behind it was a crack in the rock where a mother bird had built her nest. In the midst of a furious weather and gushing water, the mother bird sat on her nest in perfect peace.
What a beautiful portrait of peace!
The mother bird knew there was a storm, and there was raging water. However, she also knew she was hidden in the cleft of the rock; that no matter how the wind howled and water fell, she was safe and protected.
Peace is not the absence of troubles or challenges. Peace is a calm assurance that in the midst of storm, there is shelter.
In Isaiah 7, King Ahaz was faced with a challenge. “Two smoldering stubs of firewood” had joined forces and plotted his ruin. The Bible stated that because of this information, “the hearts of Ahaz and his people were shaken, as the trees of the forest are shaken by the wind.” Then the Lord sent the prophet Isaiah to King Ahaz to encourage him, to let him know that none of his enemies’ plan will happen nor take place.
The Lord even gave him a sign, a promise, “Therefore, the Lord himself will give you a sign: The virgin will conceive and give birth to a son, and will call him ‘Immanuel.’”
Immanuel means “God with us”.
The advent of Immanuel is the coming of the Author of Peace. We need not look for peace anywhere because where Immanuel is, God is and therefore, peace is.
When the Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6) is present, peace is no longer elusive. It is no more merely a vague or abstract idea; rather, it is concrete, real and tangible. Peace is not the absence of difficulties; it is the presence of the One greater than our problems because “God with us” is peace with us!
So, when does peace reign in our hearts?
It is when our hearts have opened to the coming of Immanuel; allow Him to reside and rule there. He never promised that life would be easy. But He assured that His peace would guard our hearts. He said, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you” (John 14:27). As we celebrate the coming of Immanuel this season, may we also delight in the Prince of Peace’s promised peace.
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