Peace in God’s Purpose for Your Life

If you’re looking for peace in your life but not finding it, the problem might be that you’re missing it because you’re looking for it. In other words, peace might be eluding you because it comes as an accompaniment to something else. At least one such “something else” is God’s purpose for your life. Peace doesn’t always come simply because you want peace. Peace doesn’t come from an escape from unpleasant circumstances. Peace comes when you pursue God’s purposes for your life.

While I was a seminary student, I had the privilege of being selected to go on an all-expenses-paid, week-long mission trip to Acapulco, Mexico. It sounds kind of exotic, but the fact is, we were so busy with missions work the whole time that we had zero time in the water or on the beach! I only got to see the beach briefly from our hotel. Every day was spent doing translation work for a medical mission, and each evening we had an evangelistic campaign. It was wonderful work!  

On the flight back to Tulsa I had an aisle seat, which I always prefer. I can’t say that I was extremely happy about the occupant of the middle seat, however. He was an exceptionally large person who couldn’t help but occupy part of my space. And no, he was not at all overweight or obese; he was a lineman for the University of Miami football team! I say I wasn’t extremely happy about his taking my space, but I did enjoy talking with him. He also seemed interested in the fact that I was a seminary student who had been on a mission trip to Acapulco.  

As the plane descended in preparation for landing at the Tulsa airport, we could see absolutely nothing out our window. Apparently, the clouds were quite low—maybe even a thick fog all the way to the ground. We could tell, however, that we were dropping, and we just had that feeling, from the sound, the change of speed, and other signs, that we were about to touch down. But all of a sudden, we shot back up with a quick acceleration. We had no idea what was happening, but it seemed that we had avoided some kind of danger! People were obviously frightened. 

After we made another pass and safely landed, I was a little surprised when the football player, with an extremely concerned expression on his face and a tone of real relief said, “I almost asked you to say a prayer!” What was really surprising about this scenario is that while this hulk of a man had obvious fear, I was perfectly calm.

Sure, there have been times since then that were even less threatening, but which struck a bit of fear in me. But that time I had absolutely no fear. I was at perfect peace. Do you know why? I just had this certain thought, “God has a call on my life, and I haven’t even come close to fulfilling it. Nothing can happen to me!” I didn’t get to go to a peaceful beach on that Acapulco mission trip, but I had found a more reassuring peace in God’s purposes. Even if something had happened to us on that flight, I was in a place of peace regardless.

Finding peace with God is not about escape or fantasy. It’s about peace in the midst of difficult circumstances. We may not know how much time we have left on earth. We have no assurances that we will win every battle we face in this life. I can assure you, however, that when you know that you are called according to God’s purposes and you are living those out to the best of your abilities, with God’s help, you will have peace and confidence like never before. I’m a lot older than I was on that mission trip, and I have come closer to fulfilling God’s call than I had then, but the same peace is still available to me. It’s available to you, too, and you will find it in the pursuit of God’s purposes for your life.

Photo by Ross Parmly on Unsplash.