Monday- The Presence of Peace
Have you ever just needed someone to be there? You know, just listen to you, just sit near you, maybe hold your hand, maybe hold you. Have you ever felt the comfort and peace of someone’s presence when everything around you felt uncertain? There is such power in the presence of someone who loves you.
On Sunday morning we read together Numbers 6:24-27, this beautiful blessing of the presence of God tucked in the middle of chapter after chapter of rules and regulations for purity and detailed descriptions of how to set up the tabernacle.
Numbers 6:24-27 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make His face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up His countenance upon you and give you peace. So shall they put my name upon the people of Israel, and I will bless them.”
I love that it is God who does all the action here. The Lord blesses, the Lord keeps, the Lord’s face shines and gives grace, the Lord looks upon you with favor and gives peace. The Lord’s name is on His people and it is He who blesses.
Our Great God initiates the relationship with us, though we are unclean, though we break His law, though we often run away from Him, He says, “You are mine, I am here.” I am your keeper. Is there punishment for ungodliness- yes. Are there consequences for sin- yes. But there is also abundant grace and peace.
When God had these words written in Numbers, He also held the plans for the redemption of the whole world through Jesus in mind. He knew that we would struggle through thousands of years of sin, misery, and death. But He also knew that the final peace of the reign of Christ would be even greater than the peace of the Garden of Eden.
Revelation 21:1-5 “Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God. He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. And he who was seated on the throne said, “Behold, I am making all things new.” Also he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
Friends, we live in the tension between the reality of perfect peace coming and the reality of sin and struggle currently. As we wait for the days where every tear is wiped away and death is no more, God does not leave us alone. He dwells with us in the Holy Spirit. The power of death and pain have been broken by the coming of Emmanuel “God with Us”. And while we feel the sting of death and mourning, we are sustained by the God who dwells with us. He holds and keeps you. Know His peace.
Blessings, Hesed