How to Be at Peace

Agree with God, and be at peace (Job 22:21)

Job 22:21-29; John 16:33; Col. 1:20

What Is God Saying?

The question is, ‘Can you agree with God, or can't you? Will you agree with God, or won't you?’ How we answer that question affects all of life. Job tells us the answer that leads to peace, desired by all and missed by many.

Consider His Word in Job, Chapter 22. Verse 22: Keep it in your mind and heart. Verse 23-24: Let God be God, not gold or silver. Verse 25: The Almighty is your gold and your precious silver. Verse 26: He is the Source of your pleasure. Delight yourself in Him. Verse 27: Let His will be done. You find that through prayer. Verse 28: You will reap the harvest of peace. You will make the right decisions, and you will make them stick. You will see where you are going and why.

The lesson of this portion of Job is that we are to look beyond the wisdom of men and seek the wisdom of God. ‘Agree with God and be at peace.’

How Does This Apply To Us?

It is simple, beautiful, and clear, yet tragically, often overlooked.

• You can agree with God and be at peace.

• You can be out of agreement with God and not be at peace.

The formula never varies. All hostility, wasteful tension, and irrational passions—from the time of Cain and Abel to the present—can be traced to this one thing: humans, out of agreement with God, cannot be at peace with themselves or anyone else.

Pray With Me

To agree with God is to be on the road to peace and to be at peace on the road. Let this agreement, Lord, be deep and genuine. A casual, easy, hasty agreement will not do. Give me a deep conviction, Lord, that in merely intellectual agreement with You, half-given and half-withheld, there is no assurance and, in fact, no possibility of peace. To agree with God is to say You are correct in Your assessment of my problem, Your offer of a solution, and Your ultimate purpose for my life. Deliver me from the folly of seeking peace in any other place, in any other way, or under any other terms.

I thank You for making the way to agreement with You so plain. In Your word is Your will. Christ shows Your love. The guidance of Your Holy Spirit is always theirs who ask. Have patience with me, Lord, that I often find it hard to agree. Be patient when I fail to acknowledge that You are always right and loving. Give me the will to will Your will. Give me the honesty to accept Your judgment. Give me the wisdom to recognize Your amazing grace. Then, I shall be at peace with myself, all others, my world, and God.

I will bless You, O God, for this wonderful peace. My spirit will rejoice in it in this body and throughout eternity.

Through Christ, who agreed with the Father's will that, I might be at peace forever. Amen.

Moving On In The Life Of Prayer

Is your prayer directed toward finding God's will for your life? Is everything you say, think, and ask in prayer focused on the desire to agree with God? It should be. That is the way prayer becomes powerful as an effective tool in life. Whether we are to live in disciplined freedom or undisciplined chaos; whether we are to live a whole, unfettered, expansive life or a pinched, selfish, and cramped existence; whether we are to be in a state of war with everything and everybody or at peace depends on how that question is answered. If you can say, ‘Yes, I choose to agree with God;’ if you can say, ‘Yes, I will accept His verdict, apply His solution, adopt His plan, and follow His direction;’ if you can say, ‘Yes, I will go with God and not against Him,’ then the rest of the verse, ‘Be at peace,’ belongs to you. The great secret of prevailing prayer is to find the will of God and then bring yourself to agree that He is right.