Restlessness or Peace, Which Will It Be?
Posted on April 21, 2020
Pastor Les Dennis, Fall River Baptist Church, Nova Scotia

John 14:27 (HCSB) Jesus’ Gift of Peace – Peace I leave with you. My peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Your heart must not be troubled or fearful. You have heard Me tell you, ‘I am going away and I am coming to you.

Sense of Restlessness

As we enter the fourth week of having no church services and, for many of our congregation no reason to leave the house except for unavoidable trips for supplies, we may be feeling a sense of restlessness from being cooped up in our homes.

Handling Confinement

As a believer we can handle whatever the Lord allows to come our way, even being confined to quarters. 1 Corinthians 10:13 tells us that God will not allow us to face something we cannot handle, including the temptation to give into discontentment and restlessness. He tells us that our temptations are common to mankind. Much of the world is facing similar confinement right now. God does not promise to do away with our difficulties, but He does promise to make a way for us to deal with them. He may not remove the temptation but He does provide a way of escape by enabling us to handle it. The Lord Will Bring Good out of It.

As believers we should remember that God will bring good out of our confinement. We may not know what good will come from it, but by faith we know good will come. We know that the Lord will bring good out of it because He made that promise in Romans 8:28. Knowing that good will come from our current situation can help ease the feelings of discontentment and restlessness.

Using Our Time Wisely

According to Matthew 6:33-34, we should seek the kingdom of God and His righteousness first. This will help alleviate worry about external threats that are outside our door. Ephesians 5:15-17 tells us to make the most of our situation. Our confinement can be an opportunity spend extra time with the Lord each day, which improves our peace of mind. Additional time in the Word and in prayer gives the Holy Spirit opportunity to grow the fruit of the Spirit in us, which includes peace. Jesus said in John 16:33 that in Him we can have peace. There will always be suffering in this world, but we can have peace in tribulation because He has conquered the world.

We can use our confinement to show our love toward other people. We can do this by a simple contact with someone we know who may be having an especially difficult time right now. Communication says “I care about you” and is appreciated by most people. Some of you are showing love for others in various ways such as cooking meals, getting supplies or in other creative ways.

Conclusion

Whatever we do with our time in confinement, we need to seek the Lord’s will in it. We need to trust the Lord rather than our own understanding or ability to figure it all out; we need to acknowledge the way the Lord has worked in our lives in the past and then we just need to use our heads to make decisions as to what to do. If we do this we can be confident that the Lord will direct our path (Proverbs 3:5-6) toward doing His will, whether we are aware of it or not. This can reduce our sense of discontentment and restlessness and replace it with peace of mind. Restlessness or peace is our choice.

© Les Dennis, 2020 — Permission is given to copy this article, if it is copied in its entirety and distributed without charge.