Coming Soon: Peace And Quiet

Guest Post by Emily Gehman

His Word: And the effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever. Isaiah 32:17

Observation and Obedience: A little known fact about me in the blogiverse is the number of people that live at my house. I’ll spare you the details, but long story short, there are nine people that live in my house including me. Four of them are under the age of 16. Let’s just say our house doesn’t specialize in “quiet.”

Now, I will be the first to say they are really great kids. I mean, really. They’re respectful and kindhearted and relatively non-destructive. But they’re still kids…learning to be adults.

And I love them dearly.

But.

Sometimes, all I want is some peace and quiet. Sometimes I just want the whole house to myself. Where nobody is dumping out the Legos or watching Phineas and Ferb at 87% volume at 7:30am or fighting like the brothers and sisters they are. These are all perfectly acceptable things to do when you’re between the ages of 8 and 16 and I don’t want them to stop doing those things. But sometimes, I love an empty house. Peace and quietness.

Beyond The House Walls 

That’s what we all long for, isn’t it? Peace and quietness and trust forever—just like Isaiah 32:17 says? But not just in your house filled with people everywhere all the time. We long for peace and quietness in every part of our lives. We want to live peacefully, with no conflicts from within or without. We want an illness-free, accident-less, grief-clear, undisturbed, no-anxiety, peace-and-quiet life. Right? Right.

But.

Life isn’t peaceful or quiet. Nope. Not even a little. Illnesses takeover, accidents happen, grief strikes, worries dominate, and there is little peace and quiet. There may be some peaceful periods and quiet moments, but then something hits, and it’s gone. And we want it back.

But I don’t understand! God promises peace and quiet, does He not? He promised no more world-floods after Noah spent 120 years building a giant boat. Didn’t He? He promised His people endurance and eagle’s strength. Didn’t He? He even promised peace and quietness to the righteous. Didn’t He? Doesn’t He? Isn’t that what it says right there in Isaiah 32?

“The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness quietness and trust forever.” 

Yep, there it is. So why don’t I have it? Why did life just dump the box of legos on top of me to step on with my bare feet? Why isn’t there peace and quiet in my life? Why is there conflict everywhere I turn? Why is my friend sick? Why did my friend’s mom die at 46 from brain cancer? Are we—am I—not righteous? Do I not love God enough? Do I deserve these sorrows life has brought me?

Ah, yes, the questions flood my mind, my soul, and I grow weary.

But.

We are counting on the wrong righteousness.

And we are short sighted.

Not My Righteousness, But Jesus’

The effect of our righteousness is nothing. In fact, Isaiah goes on to say in chapter 64 that our righteousness is as good as filthy rags; unable to clean and unable to be cleaned by us. It is, in fact, not our righteousness that brings peace and quietness, but that of Jesus Christ.

Driven by His enormous, mind-blowing love, Jesus died in our place for the punishment of our sin. He died, experiencing the separation from God we were bound for on our own—so we could benefit from His righteousness, since our righteousness won’t get us anywhere.

Belief in this Gospel—good news—secures for us the righteousness and its benefits Isaiah talks about. Jesus’ righteousness truly offers peace, quietness, and trust forever. But not yet.

Not Here, Not Now

We are promised not peace, but trouble here on earth. The peace and quietness Jesus offers is not promised for this life, but the next. I’m not talking about reincarnation or coming back to earth as a cow or something. No, I’m talking about Heaven. It’s a real place, and it’s the only place we can experience peace, and quietness, and trust forever.

For now, we might be caught up in a swirl of everything unpeaceful: the white stench of hospitals, the grief of broken relationships, the sorrow of a funeral dirge.

But.

This life, with all its pain and grief is only temporary. The effect of Jesus’ righteousness is coming. The peace and the quietness and the trust forever is in our future. We are here only for a while, and then the results of righteousness will be ours forever. And ever.

So for now, I’ll enjoy the peace and quiet of an empty house, but I know they will be home soon, and the quiet will be over. And I’ll want the peace and quiet back in the rest of my life, too.

But.

The effect of righteousness will be peace, and the result of righteousness, quietness and trust forever.

Thank You Emily Gehman