Peace Thieves

**… be not dismayed; for I am thy God:… ** Isaiah 41:10b

Learning about Peace Thieves brings us to Part 2 of our look at Isaiah 40 as it challenges us to not be afraid or discouraged when trouble comes because we can count on God being God in the middle of any problem.

The Lord reminds us that we don’t even need to be discouraged when things are not going our way.

On this test, I have gotten a big, fat ZERO these past few days. It seems no matter what I did or where I turned, things fell apart and the Peace Thieves stole my confidence. It was so frustrating! It felt like I was constantly walking into concrete walls of resistance. I allowed my circumstances to rob me of the Lord’s peace.

I have learned over time that that feeling of chaos is usually a wake up call to me to stop and check my thoughts and feelings and expectations. It also makes me think of the donkey that kept pushing Balaam against the wall in Numbers 22. Balaam was doing something the Lord didn’t approve of so He put an angel in his way and the donkey could see it long before Balaam could. I don’t think I was ‘doing’ anything wrong, but my thoughts and emotions were definitely off track. I, too often, have very high expectations of how things should be done or how others should act. It always gets me into trouble with the Lord and it is a real Peace Thief for me.

So, the Lord shakes up my world a little bit to help me to slow down and evaluate the root of my chaos and frustration. Then I can get a grip on myself, I have a little talk with God about my issues and start over with a better attitude and my peace and encouragement is restored.

The Lord uses the word ‘dismayed’ about 30 times in the Bible. Most often, it is directed at leaders. Moses says it when he hands over the charge of Israel to Joshua. David, says the same thing to strengthen Solomon to accept his reign as king. Several prophets use this phrase when they have tough messages to deliver to God’s people.

It seems to me that that means that leaders can get discouraged in their work and need a little reminder that God is still God and though circumstances are not what they hope them to be, God has not lost His focus or His interest in what they are doing. The Lord has his leaders where He wants them to be and He just wants them to trust Him and know that He knows what He is doing.

Even if we aren’t public leaders like these men, God is still in charge of our lives. He still has a plan and the things that are happening in our day are messages from Him to keep our eyes and our heart where they belong: On Him. We shouldn’t allow our circumstances to discourage us or rob us of our peace. We need to find ways to get rid of the Peace Thieves before we move away from resting in the Lord

Like Joshua, we have all made the same choice that the Lord is our God and that we will serve Him, even if we do get discouraged from time to time. We tend to forget, at times, who is in charge of our lives. We forget that we gave up the reins of our life some time ago. We forget that we are supposed to be living by His rules now, and not ours. We forget that He sends the good and the not so good into our lives, to draw us closer to Him-not to drive us away from Him. We forget to run to Him, instead of away from Him when problems pop up. Because the farther we run, the more discouraged and disheartened we become. We just make things worse when we try to do things or figure things out on our own. Our faulty memory can rob us of our peace.

We all have full schedules, we are all busy. Our lists and our expectations are too long and too high. Let’s stop and double check if we are allowing the Lord to be God or if we have taken the reins out of His hand. Have we trusted Him with today’s problems or are we allowing the problems to be Peace Thieves? Once we have that straightened out, peace and encouragement will come rushing back. I guarantee it!

Let’s not let the Peace Thieves win!