Peace Of Mind In A World Of Anxieties And Animosities-Part-2 Series

Peace of Mind in a World of Anxieties and Animosities-Part-2

THE BATTLEGROUND IS IN MAN’S HEARTS.

“Man who is born of woman lives only a short time and is full of trouble. Job 14:1

Peace of mind is the most sought after 'commodity' in human life. Most likely you are somewhat at peace and somewhat happy and not much at peace. It appears that most of us are in a state of perpetual restlessness. On analyzing the causes of this restlessness, I have endeavored to discover God’s principles that need to be followed from the Bible if we are serious about achieving perfect peace. It is no secret that the world is always in constant turmoil. God created man and placed him in a beautiful garden to enjoy perfect peace, joy and happiness.

But when Adam and Eve disobeyed, they were at once stricken with guilt before they hid themselves with shame. Guilt and fear replaced the peace and happiness they knew. Here was the beginning of a troubled world- and a troubled mind. Like Adam and Eve, when you are out of tune with God, fears and anxieties crowd into your life. When you focus your attention on the uncertainties of life, on a changing, decaying world, your security and confidence are shaken. Your peace is disturbed. Sin has separated man from God. “All we like sheep have gone astray” (Isaiah 53:6).” “All have sinned and come short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23). Guilt, fear, irritation, resentment, selfishness, and other hostile impulses plague man wherever he goes. They bring weariness and mental exhaustion. The love of self was at the root of the first disobedience of man. It continues to be the one of the first basic evil inclinations that takes you down the path of despair and heartache. The longer you travel the path of self-centeredness, the more troubled you become.

The Book of Job presents an interesting case study about God-centered living which Brings Peace.

This book tells the story of a man called Job lived in a country called Uz. This man was good and honest. He loved God and refused to do evil deeds. He trusted God. But he had terrible troubles. Job loses his wealth, his family, his health, and the support of his wife. Besides that his friends show up and dump on him. Job calls them "miserable comforters." The devil caused Job’s troubles (Job 1:12; Job 2:6-7). But Job did not know this fact. So Job thought that God caused the problems (Job 19:1-12). In fact, God did not cause Job’s troubles. God merely permitted Job to suffer. Still, Job trusted God and refused to offend God (Job 2:9-10).Job’s friends tried to help him. But their advice was wrong. They did not think that God would allow an innocent person to suffer. So they thought that Job was guilty. They guessed that Job had done many wicked things (Job 22:4-11).Job argued with them. He explained that he was innocent (Job 31:1-40).

Job also thought that God should help him instantly. But Job was still suffering. So Job supposed that God was unfair (Job 23:13-17). But this idea was wrong. Nobody should blame God. God is always fair (Job 34:10-12).God was kind to Job, even when he was suffering. God taught him many things. He learned that death is not the end of everything (Job 19:25-27). Job discovered that God would rescue him (Job 14:13-17). And Job knew that God is wonderful (Job 26:5-14).Then Job was sorry that he said the wrong things about God. And Job’s friends were sorry too. They asked Job to pray for them. And God forgave them all (Job chapter 42).After Job prayed for his friends, God made Job successful again (Job 42:12-17).

One of the profound truths we learn from this book is that our lives on earth are short. In Job chapter 14, Job speaks his opinion of life and death. While his opinion of each is biased due to the grievous circumstances that he was in at the time of his speech, he was correct about one thing: life is short. The years of our lives do fly by like days, Job's biased opinion however says the days of our lives are 'full' of trouble. Job had once again forgotten about the 70+ years he had lived prior to his affliction. Those 70+ years Job had lived a very good life, not a life 'full' of trouble. Job's afflictions gave him the realization that man's days are "full of trouble”. Job said that we are like flowers. Some flowers are very beautiful. But they may last only for a few hours. Or Job said that we are like shadows. A shadow has a clear shape. And it moves like a person. You could almost think that your shadow was alive. But your shadow disappears in a moment. So our lives may be beautiful, like the flowers. And they may be active, like shadows. But we shall soon be dead.