Meditate
On
Jehovah Shalom Is Your God
Now the
God of peace be with you all. Amen.
Romans
15:33
I’m
sure you want the Lord to manifest Himself as the God of peace when you are
fearful. So let’s go deeper into what the “God of peace” means. Don’t forget
that Paul was Jewish, so when he said “the God of peace be with you,” he was
saying “Jehovah Shalom be with you.” “Jehovah Shalom” is Hebrew for “the God of
peace.” Now, the first appearance of the name Jehovah Shalom is in the Old
Testament story of Gideon in Judges 6.
As we
read Gideon’s story, we discover that the Midianites terrorized Israel day and
night, descending upon them like a swarm of marauding locusts and destroying
their crops and pillaging their livestock. Fearful of their cruel enemies, the
Israelites hid in dens and caves in the mountains. It is no wonder Gideon was
petrified and hid himself at the bottom of an abandoned winepress to thresh the
measly stalks of dry grain he had somehow managed to scavenge. He was bound by
fear and overcome by all the news of terror that surrounded him.
In the
midst of Gideon’s fear, “the Angel of the Lord appeared to him, and said to
him, ‘The Lord is with you, you mighty man of valor!’” (Judg. 6:12).
When
you find the expression “the Angel of the Lord” in the Old Testament, it
usually refers to our Lord Jesus in His preincarnate state. Jesus Himself
appeared to Gideon when he was in the pit of fear and called him a mighty man
of valor. Isn’t that amazing?
Are
there moments when you feel besieged by fear? When you hear reports of terror
or exposure to some virus, do you feel fearful and anxious? Has fear driven you
into hiding? The truth is, regardless of how you feel, when our Lord Jesus
looks at you right now, He sees you as a mighty man or mighty woman of courage.
Isn’t
it amazing how our Lord looks at us? It’s not how we see ourselves that defines
us; it is how our Lord Jesus sees us that defines us. That’s why we read His
Word. We read it to discover what His Word says about us. My friend, no matter
what state you are in right now and how messed up your life might be, the Lord
Jesus sees the best in you.
He sees
your potential, your gifting, your call, and your destiny to do great things in
this life! And as the ending of Gideon’s story shows, He will guide you and
cause you to be a testimony of His protection as you trust in Him and see
yourself and your situations through His eyes.
BLESSINGS
JOSEPH
PRINCE
