Proverbs 1:33: Peace

[Wisdom says:] “but whoever listens to me will dwell secure and will be at ease, without dread of disaster.”
-Proverbs 1:33

This verse shows up for me at a very odd time. You see, this past weekend was an interesting one, and full of contradictions. On Saturday night I was in a situation, and I failed to seek God in it. I ended up getting very upset, very frustrated, and said a lot of things I shouldn’t. It was pretty ugly, and I greatly regret the whole thing. On Sunday, I found myself in a similar situation, and I stopped myself and prayed, and everything was almost instantly better. The situation was not really better, but I was, and that was enough. Likewise, my wife had to suddenly go to her hometown because a family member passed away, and I could not accompany her because I could not get the time off from work. I wish I were with her to comfort her and care for her, and yet I am at peace because I’ve been trusting God to take care of things.

We are concluding our look at Proverbs 1 today with this verse, and I am reminded of one of the first posts I did on Proverbs, which talked about how God’s blessing isn’t necessarily wealth. It’s deeper than that. A lot of Christians would look at this verse and think that God is going to make them rich. That’s not it at all.

The world doesn’t change for you; you change in relation to the world.

This is what is promised to us: “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control; against such things there is no law” (Galatians 5:22-23).

What a wonderful promise. I have to say, I would rather have these things than wealth. I am not a wealthy man, and yet the peace of God makes me very content in what I earn.

There are times when I look inward, and in doing that I start to panic. I start to lose sight of God. But when I listen to Him, I am “at ease, without dread of disaster.” In those times (and those times are increasing in me), I know that He is in control.

It is not something I deserve, and not something I could ever earn. It’s Grace. It’s mercy. When Jesus died, He paid my debt. Now I am free to follow Him, to accept love, joy, peace, patience, etc. I am able to come to God and know that He is in control.

It is only through Jesus that this can happen. Only by His Blood are we able to be forgiven, for only He has paid the price that we should pay for our sins. If you do not know Him, I ask you to repent of the wrongs you have committed. Go to Him and ask for Grace. Not for money, not for power, and not for anything worldly, but for life. For love. For joy. These are things the world cannot offer, and yet are worth more than all the gold in the world.