In 2000, my sister, Joy Dyer, tried to pay for a purchase at a department store but could not make her hand write out a check. That was the first sign that something sinister was attacking her body. Almost one year later to the day, cancer took Joy’s life. The following article is taken from the upcoming book, Suffering with Joy, which is comprised of letters that were written out of a desire to walk with Joy, her husband, Dean, and their family and friends through this hard journey. My hope is that these letters will provide comfort and encouragement in Christ to other fellow sufferers who are walking a hard path.
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 [Jehovah], the Lord, is everlasting strength.
Isaiah 26:3–4
Joy and Dean went to MD Anderson yesterday in hopes of beginning the agreed-upon chemotherapy treatment today. But a discovery was made while checking her blood that something is not quite the way it should be in her liver. Because of that, the doctor recommended a different type of chemo with a different treatment regime. Joy started this new regime last night. She will take chemotherapy by pills at home every six hours, beginning at midnight last night and continuing for three days. She will then travel to Houston on Saturday for a four-hour intravenous treatment. These steps will be repeated every six weeks with her blood being checked in Bryan every two weeks. She will also have an MRI every six weeks. This change of plans at the last minute is just the latest in a series of challenges Joy and Dean have faced with her sickness.
As you can imagine, the changes and uncertainties tend to put one on an emotional roller coaster. But they are trusting the Lord and believing that these changes are from Him and for their good. Is it possible to have real peace through all the ups and downs and unexpected turns in life? This week’s Joy Verse answers with a definitive “Yes!” and tells us how to obtain not only peace but perfect peace.
Chapter 26 of Isaiah starts off with a song of praise and thanksgiving, which the prophet tells his fellow countrymen they will sing once they have been restored from exile in Babylon. It is a testimonial song, and it makes claims that anyone who knows the Lord can affirm. And as it testifies to God’s character and involvement in the lives of His people, it becomes an invitation to others to come and trust this God and to receive the salvation and peace He offers.
Peace—real peace—is possible even in the most stressful times. Sometimes we Christians are tempted to pretend that we have peace because we feel like this is what we are “supposed” to do. Giving in to that temptation does not help and, in fact, can be spiritually harmful. It certainly does nothing to commend the cause of Christ. You can pretend to have peace by acting like you are not affected by things. The Stoics were masters at this. They developed an outlook on life that celebrated not being emotionally moved by either good or bad things. Such detachment may be good Stoicism, but it is not even close to Christianity!
The peace God gives is genuine, strong, and sure. It can thrive in both joy and sorrow and has no need to downplay either.
You can also pretend to have peace by wearing rose-colored glasses and acting like the silver lining is the only part of a black cloud that really exists. Some (not all) advocates of various types of positive thinking encourage this approach to life. But like the Stoic, the person who goes through life like this may appear unflappable, but he or she will not experience the kind of true, deep, life-giving peace that our Joy Verse promises that God will give.
The peace that comes from God is “perfect peace”; literally, it is “peace, peace.” To emphasize the excellence of a thing, the Hebrew language (the language of the Old Testament) repeats it. That is what Isaiah does in verse 3. The peace God gives is genuine, strong, and sure. This peace does not pretend that life is other than it really is. It can thrive in both joy and sorrow and has no need to downplay either.
When the apostle Paul was in prison, facing possible execution, he not only experienced this peace; he commended it to others. While in prison he wrote to Christians in Philippi, “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus” (Phil. 4:6–7). The peace that God gives defies explanation. But those who have experienced it would not trade it for anything.
How does one receive this peace? How can it be accessed? Well, it is not manufactured by playing mental tricks on ourselves or through some psychological ploy. Some who have never experienced it may think this must be the case. But those who have experienced it know, and the Scripture teaches, that it comes from knowing God. Our Joy Verse says (speaking to God), “You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed on You, Because he trusts in You.”
God keeps in perfect peace those whose minds are focused on, oriented toward Him. Knowing God, and knowing and believing the truth about God, is the key to real peace.
Think about this for a minute. If God really is all the Bible declares Him to be, then He is the most awesome Being in all the world. He is unlimited, all-powerful, absolutely sovereign, perfectly holy, infinitely good, full of mercy, loving and kind and gracious, patient, righteous, wise, eternal. I could go on because every moral excellence you can imagine reflects God. The Bible is filled with these kinds of descriptions (just read Psalm 145, for starters, and notice all the things that are true of God).
Knowing God, and knowing and believing the truth about God, is the key to real peace.
If you really know this God personally and are known by Him; if you love Him and are loved by Him; if you have been adopted by Him, chosen by Him, purchased by Him, and given tremendous promises by Him, wouldn’t it stand to reason that you could live with confidence and peace? It makes perfect sense. In fact, it would seem strange that one who has such a relationship with such a God could ever be without peace.
But of course, Christians are not immune to fears and anxieties. Sometimes we even give in to them and find ourselves in despair. The key is keeping our minds fixed on God. Hoping in God. Believing God. God is true and all the things the Bible teaches us about Him are true. Our challenge is to keep believing the truth about God, even when life starts to hurt. This challenge is what the apostle Paul calls the “fight of faith” (1 Tim. 6:12). It is the diligent effort to keep believing what God has taught us to be true, no matter what happens to us.
So after the promise that the Lord will keep us in peace as our minds are stayed on Him, the song in Isaiah goes on to encourage us to keep trusting: “Trust in the Lord forever, For in YAH [Jehovah], the Lord, is everlasting strength.” The word YAH is an abbreviated form of God’s covenant name (YAHWEH) in the Old Testament. This name is usually translated by Lord (in large and small capital letters), to let us know it is the name that God used when He revealed Himself to Moses as “the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” Verse 4 says, “For in YAH, the Lord, is everlasting strength.” We might translate this, “For in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength.”
The point is: the one true God, Creator, Sustainer, and Redeemer is like an unmovable rock. As we anchor ourselves to Him through faith, we will not be moved but will be kept in perfect peace, real peace, no matter what.
