The Pursuit of Peace

“My heart also instructs me in the night seasons.”

Psalm 16: 7b

Have you ever had a conversation with someone and when you ask them how they are they respond by saying, “I am doing okay. I am in a night season right now, but I am doing okay.” You probably have not heard this before.

It seems like an unusual choice of words for David to describe a phase or period of time in his life. The night seasons when things are dark, uncertain, precarious, and maybe oppressed. You could conclude there is “no peace” in the night season. No peace for the heart of man.

But it seems to be a brilliant way to describe the times when it seems life has brought us to what seems like a desert land and we feel we have no hope and no peace.

Looking at the life of David, he probably spent most of his life oppressed. He spent many years running and hiding from King Saul. When he became king it seems there were many battles that were being fought. Many wars. Peace times for David were probably few and highly prized.

I think we spend most of our lives in pursuit of peace. We get educations or training in certain fields so we can earn psychological and financial peace. We find mates to marry so we can feel complete and therefore be at peace. We buy homes to live so we feel we have a slice of this world to call our own and to raise a family to bring us comfort, security and peace.

In the pursuit of finding peace we often find that maintaining peace is a battle.

We get educated and we don’t like our jobs. We get married and the marriages may end in premature death or divorce. We buy homes and find out that we have to move or lose our homes to economic hardship.

David was a man of unique faith that seemed almost unwavering. He never took his eyes off God. He looked to God for everything in his life. In Psalm 16: 7 “I will bless the Lord who has given me counsel: my heart also instructs me in the night seasons.” In verse 8 he continues to say, “I have set the Lord always before me; Because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved.”

“I shall not be moved.” That sounds like a determined man, a man who knows who his God is, a man who knows the power of his God, a man who knows that God is faithful no matter what season he is in.

Peace comes at a cost.

You must be determined like David to not be moved no matter how dark the night seems.

Know who your God is. David knew who his God was because he ALWAYS set the Lord before him.

Seek the Lord for wisdom and direction. David sought the Lord for instruction and then thanked the Lord for His counsel.

David knew he had nothing unless the Lord gave it to him, including his peace. He also understood he had to do his part with God to be able to have that peace.

Just remember that without fail after ever night, no matter how long the night season lasts, the day or light will come.

Do Not Be Moved

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Photo taken by Lorraine