I am struggling for words as I begin to write this, but I must try to relate an experience I had a few days ago.
I was out in a park pouring out my heart to the Lord, for, I go through some very hard things at times. Like all of us these days.
I don’t know if I can adequately describe how I was feeling, except to say that I felt my whole life was so… what has it amounted to? I felt so… broken… so… brought to nothing.
And unexpectedly a deep peace came very close to me. It caught me unawares; I wasn’t expecting it. I’ve known a measure of the peace of God over the years, but this was a peace deeper than anything I have ever known. It was precious beyond words… so precious that I immediately cried out (in my heart), “Lord, you must keep this for me; I don’t trust myself to keep this; please keep this for me lest I lose it.”
…And after a few moments… it… or should I say, He… withdrew.
Paul writes of the peace of God that passeth understanding… but also of the God of peace. I believe it was the God of peace Himself who drew so close to me, for there was a precious Presence in this peace. And even though it was but for a few moments I have come to realize… beloved, we too readily presume in the present level of our spiritual consciousness. What I mean is, we consider ourselves spiritually conscious when in fact we are yet very short of the consciousness of God. There are depths in our God that we simply know nothing about. That afternoon I touched a God who… He is a God of peace. Oh, He loves peace. He loves peace more deeply than we can comprehend. In fact He is peace, peace at a level beyond words to describe. Strife of any kind is to Him the most jarring of things. Violence, force, contention, harshness, strife… whether in word or deed… it pierces Him to the heart. This strife-torn world is an alien world to Him. He is so gentle of heart. Oh how He longs for a world that is filled with His peace.
And He will yet have such a world. For He has promised that of the increase of His government and peace there shall be no end… till the kingdom of His righteousness and peace covers the earth as the waters cover the sea.
I feel so helpless trying to describe the peace I felt, and I guess I have to give up trying. What is a description compared with an experience?
And so all I can say is… it isn’t enough that I had so fleeting a taste of this peace. All it did was wreck me. It seems like all else has become ashes to me. I must pursue this peace. I will not stop short of coming to abide in this peace… in this God of peace. I noticed in my Interlinear Bible that every place where the God of peace is mentioned it actually says, “the God of the peace.” In other words, it is a matchless peace, there is none other like it—the peace of God Himself… the God of peace Himself.
Oh, to abide in this peace!
A Mending Feast 
As I read and your inability to explain fully your experience I believe it is because it’s a different dimension. When God shows us something it is so imprinted on us that to us it seems that is what God is all about whether it is peace or love or patience, what ever God is revealing to us at the time.
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Hi Alden. Yes, it is a different dimension, and to know this dimension is the difference between communication and communion.
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I have also experienced this peace you talk about at times of deep prayer and meditation upon God. You are right, it ruins you – and the trap that I have fallen into at times is to attempt to re-create that feeling. It is such a wonderful feeling, who wouldn’t be tempted to re-create it – right? However, I have found that the peace comes in so many different ways – but it always comes to me when my focus is completely upon him and all other things are blocked out. It is the peace that shows me the mountains I had created in my mind are nothing but mole-hills. It is the peace that comes from his presence alone – nothing in the world can give it! This peace is not something I can strive to attain, but it is something that he bestows upon me as I yield myself to him and his will.
I love hearing about your experience, it was a blessing and encouragement to me. Thanks for sharing!
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Thanks for sharing this, Chad. I know that in that moment in the park, all the mountains in my mind just melted like wax. But I find I do the same thing you mentioned– try to recreate the feeling! Always in vain! I receive your counsel, brother– to seek to focus fully… not on the peace, but on the God of peace Himself. And yield fully to Him. Then the peace of God will be our portion.
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