What Do Chirping Birds, A Running Stream, Sunrise And John 14:27 Have In Common?
Written by Heartsong Live on 13th October 2020
“Peace when trouble blows,
Jehovah sees, Jehovah knows;
He is my peace when sorrow nears,
Jehovah sees, Jehovah hears”
If you’re familiar with the lyrics above, then you’re likely a Christian of a certain age :).
If you don’t, then it’s time for a little Contemporary Christian music history. Ready? OK, let’s go…
Those lyrics are the chorus of the 1993 contemporary Christian music hit, Peace by South African worship leader, Lionel Petersen.
(Here’s a youtube link https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hE0w2szPyTw, if you want to check it out or refresh your memory like I just did! If you’d rather not listen or can’t listen now, that’s absolutely fine. Skip this and the next paragraph to the rest of the post).
Take a moment and let the flute interludes, the sound of the conga and the choral elements (dominated by the bass harmony) wash over you…
Nice, huh?
Ok, Ok… before we get too carried away, you ought to know that the lyrics I mentioned earlier are simply a clue to answering the question I asked in this post’s title.
So what DO chirping birds, a running stream, sunrise and John 14:27 have in common?
The first 3 evoke feelings of peace; the scripture speaks literally of it.
“…my peace I give you… not like the world gives…”
Peace: the effective antidote to conflict and chaos.
Sadly, we aren’t always able to control external peace. If we could, I’m certain wars wouldn’t be fought and marriages wouldn’t crumble.
But internal peace? Here we can dominate. Only, it’s even more difficult to achieve sometimes and its absence could have terrible consequences: anxiety, depression, feelings of loneliness and of course suicide- they all tell a story of internal raging storms that could not be calmed.
I’d like to share a common bible story with you, with the hope that you’ll see it with fresh eyes.
The disciples of Jesus weren’t having a good day.
It was like the elements had decided to go to war. And they couldn’t have been at a wronger place at an equally worse time than in a boat.
At sea.
The boat was proving no match for the ferocious wind and crashing waves. It was like nothing they had ever seen.
Fear gripped them like a vice: “Was this really the end?” “What would become of their families?” “Had they put their houses in order?” These frantic thoughts probably ran riot in their minds as they battled with bucket after bucket trying to get the water off the boat- but it was filling too fast…much too fast.
Why oh, why had they chosen this day of all days to cross the sea? And..where was the person they were supposed to be transporting to the other side? The person who had made the request?
They looked frantically at each other and around the boat…perhaps he had fallen over?? Panic!
Then one of the disciples noticed Jesus sleeping soundly on a cushion at the back of the boat- his features calm and peaceful. The disciples looked at each other, the same unspoken question on their faces: “How in the world is He sleeping through this??”
They shook Him awake and wasted no time on preamble: “Teacher, don’t you care that we’re about to die?!”
Jesus fully awake now, sternly commands the winds and waves, “Hush! Be still!”
And like a massive exhale, everything stopped; calm was restored; stillness had returned…perfect peacefulness.
And then Jesus turned to His disciples “Why are so afraid? What happened to your confidence in me?”
Do you think the disciples’ reaction to the storm was strange? I don’t. In fact, I can bet we’ve all reacted the same when life throws us its usual curveballs.
If only we could always stretch beyond the fear of the chaos seemingly about to consume us.
If only we would remember that we can trust Jesus totally because the fiercest of storms are no match for Him.
Whatever your storm, He sees, He knows…
And He is your peace.
