Peace

Who will give me wings like a dove? And I will fly away, and be at rest?
Psalm 55:6, Orthodox Study Bible

I had quite some thoughts about this verse when I read it yesterday. I don’t mean this to criticize King David, because we all share the same humanity as him, but even he had a level of escapism in the midst of circumstances. I would not call this hope because of how the verses that follow are curses. Yet even in that cursing, as dysfunctional as it is, there is an underlying desire for justice in his eyes.

To me, although this verse does seem rather escapist, it seems that David is really seeking what would bring him peace through rest. And this lets us in on something that all of us experience, that often in adverse situations, we are trying to pursue what we think will bring us peace. Examples may include:

Wanting to pass away after being painfully provided life support for so long
Working overtime to earn a certain amount of money and feel a sense of financial security
Serving nonstop for fear of losing salvation
Abusing substances to not have to feel the craving
Being in a place where pursuers who are out for your life cannot find you
Wanting to go home after a full day of socializing and making appearances

Looking at this list, it is tempting for me to label some of these behaviors as ‘bad’ and ‘good’. If anything, maybe some of these are more socially acceptable or socially relevant. Tying this in to my previous post – behavior is important, but it is only the tip of the iceberg. At the heart of these examples, there is a desire to achieve peace, or rest. That is why merely peacekeeping is not real peace, because there is no real rest – it is just consciously turning a blind eye to issues due to fear and/or ignorance.

Anyways, I think King David is onto something here – that peace, true peace, comes through rest. There is so much content on rest and Sabbath already that I will not even attempt to cover here. What I have been learning, however, is rest happens when strivings cease – emotionally, physically, and spiritually. In this lifetime, those moments might be only occasional or even rare. Put it simply, those are the moments where I don’t feel like I have to perform, where I don’t feel guilty for not being productive, where I don’t feel like I have to run from anything (especially myself), where I don’t have to ‘act cool’, where I don’t have to impress, and where I don’t have to prove myself for whatever reason. This is going to look different for different people in different life sages and circumstances, but my prayer is that you do find those moments of rest, and find those moments of Jesus’ presence (which may show up in different forms) – and that combination of rest and presence is what I believe helps bring peace.