Hope Lost and Found:
Insights on God’s Plan of Salvation, Revival and Restoration

Part 5 —Coming to Peace with God

by Harvey L. Diamond

Truly, God will bring us to such a state of peace with Him.  Even in times of great distress and turmoil, His peace can be found.  For, as His word promises, His peace comes two ways:  1) As we choose to trust in Him; and 2) As He pours out His Spirit.  Then the grace of His righteousness and justice works His kind of real peace.  Let His words and Spirit speak to your heart.

His Promise

You will keep him in perfect peace,
Whose mind is stayed on You,
Because he trusts in You.
Trust in the LORD forever,
For in YAH, the LORD, is everlasting strength.  
(Isaiah 26:3-4)

His Truth and His Way

On the land of my people will come up thorns and briers,
Yes, on all the happy homes in the joyous city;
Because the palaces will be forsaken,
The bustling city will be deserted.
The forts and towers will become lairs forever,
A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks -- 
Until the Spirit is poured upon us from on high,
And the wilderness becomes a fruitful field,
And the fruitful field is counted as a forest.

The Peace of God's Reign

Then justice will dwell in the wilderness,
And righteousness remain in the fruitful field.
The work of righteousness will be peace,
And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever.
My people will dwell in a peaceful habitation,
In secure dwellings, and in quiet resting places,
Though hail comes down on the forest
(Isaiah 32:13-19)

How does this dynamic work?  It works through the mysterious ways of His Spirit—the agent of His order—the Holy Spirit, part of the triune nature of God.  Yes, God administers the order of His kingdom—on earth as it is in heaven—by His Spirit.  His Spirit, however, is released through the Son; also part of His triune nature.

The problem is the liberal nature of mankind—wanting a false sense of liberty—has a habit of creating and allowing order that is out of God’s order.  We sometimes use a nice word to describe this—tolerance.  But, God does not tolerate things that He abhors without also allowing consequences.

The earth is also defiled under its inhabitants,
Because they have transgressed the laws,
Changed the ordinance,
Broken the everlasting covenant.
Therefore the curse has devoured the earth,
And those who dwell in it are desolate.
(Isaiah 24:5-6)