In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety (Psalm 4:8).
Our Father, You are Jehovah Shalom, the Lord our Peace. You teach us to find peace in You, regardless of our circumstances, and You show up in the unlikeliest places with Your peace!
We see this as You reveal Yourself as Jehovah Shalom to a cowering Gideon, threshing wheat in a winepress to keep it from the Midianites (Judges 6:11). Because the power of Midian was so oppressive, the Israelites prepared shelters for themselves in mountain clefts, caves and strongholds (Judges 6:2).
O Lord, You are the God who calleth those things which are not, as though they were (Romans 4:17, KJ21). You spoke a new reality into Gideon's capabilities and into his circumstances with the greeting and the commission, “The Lord is with you, mighty warrior” (Judges 6:12). “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?” (Judges 6:14).
We see him protesting vigorously on both counts, “Pardon me, my lord,... but if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us?... “Pardon me, my lord,... but how can I save Israel? My clan is the weakest in Manasseh, and I am the least in my family” (Judges 6:15).
God who never changes, as You visited Gideon, so too, You visit us in our troubling circumstances and our fear even as we seek to retreat into our pits of despair and our caves of isolation. You speak Your peace into the oppressive power of our circumstances. You assure us that the Lord is with us and You confer on us the title of "Mighty Warrior," as You remind us that You have equipped us with the full armor of God (Ephesians 6:10-18).
Help us to hear Your voice in the roar of Your waterfalls, even when we feel the waves and breakers have swept over us (Psalm 42:7). O Lord, remind us that Mightier than the thunder of the great waters, mightier than the breakers of the sea— the Lord on high is mighty (Psalm 93:4).
Turn the desperation of our prayer—Give me relief from my distress; have mercy on me and hear my prayer (Psalm 4:1)—into the blessed assurance—In peace I will lie down and sleep, for You alone, Lord, make me dwell in safety (Psalm 4:8).
Speak Your "Shalom!" into our strains and our stresses, our angst and our anxieties. Teach us to trust in Your deliverance. Reassure us that stayed upon Jehovah Shalom our hearts are at rest, and all's right with the world. Even in difficult circumstances.
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