"I got peace like a river, I got peace like a river, I got peace like a river in my soul!" Sing that with me for a moment. Now think about those words. We DO have peace like a river. Moving. Sometimes tranquil pools and sometimes roaring rapids. Sometimes clear and clean, and sometimes muddy. Rivers can be gentle, flowing quietly in normal times, or they can rage with the melting snow or the pouring rain. If rivers have peace, there is usually an undercurrent, sometimes a strong one.
If you've been whitewater rafting, it will ruin this song for you. A few years back our youth went whitewater rafting. Emily was on that trip, and she did what happens a lot on those rafting trips ... she fell overboard. For a few very scary moments she was actually pinned under the boat. Ask Emily about that wonderful little song. Rivers aren't exactly peaceful ... but they can be!
In Psalm 23, David writes about something he knows ... being a shepherd. In this Psalm about God's presence during life, David describes the peace I think the little song is trying to capture. "He leadeth me beside still waters, He restoreth my soul (Ps. 23:2-3)." He know sheep, and he knows that moving or troubled water is disturbing to sheep. So the shepherd leads the flock by those waters that appear still, and they are calm and feel protected. What can we learn here?
1. There is the obvious. The shepherd knows sheep inside and out. He knows what they need and when they need it. Our Great Shepherd knows us (and we are described as sheep pretty often). Let's allow Him to lead us to those places where we can catch a deep breath and become still enough to see life around us ... to discern light from darkness and good from folly.
2. There is the unseen, but true. Sometimes the water appears still, but it is deep, moving and a nearly unstoppable force. Our society seems to be pulled along, loving the excitement of the rapids, and resting in the deep pools, thinking all is easy and quiet. But the river is still moving. It is persistent, unrelenting and always headed to a destination.
In 1863 Henry Wadsworth Longfellow came to this exact conclusion. He thought about the cannons thundering on the battlefields of civil war. His wife had died in a fire two years earlier, and his son had been severely wounded in the Civil War. Two lines of the song come to mind ... "I thought how as the day had come, the bells of all of Christendom, had rolled along, the unbroken song, of peace on earth good will towards men" ... still but unrelenting waters, that are deeper than they look. Then he writes these lyrics of despair ... "And in despair I bowed my hear, there is no peace on earth I said. For hate is strong and mocks the song, of peace on earth good will towards men." Are you in that river? Doubtful, confused and not sure of just where your peace will come from?
Isaiah writes about this ... "And His name will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father ... Prince of Peace (Isaiah 9:6)." From darkness to light, from death to life and from chaos and confusion to peace! How do we get there? We change rivers (kingdoms). We get out of the river of culture and into the river of our Lord. Wadsworth did just that , writing, "Then pealed the bells more loud and deep. God is not dead, nor doth He sleep. The wrong shall fail, the right prevail. With peace on earth, good will towards men."
Change rivers! Live in the kingdom of the Prince of Peace! There will always be wars, rumors of wars, earthquakes, troubles and strife. It is even happening in those "still waters" that flow relentlessly toward a destination. Change rivers to a destination of God's plan and God's rule. Wadsworth knew it! "God is not dead, nor doth He sleep!" Place your trust, your time and your life there! Our Good Shepherd leads us there! AMEN
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