It was Charles Spurgeon who said, “Saints know that a grain of heart’s-ease is of more value than a ton of gold.”

The true saint of God knows that a day cannot pass, rather, must not pass, without giving thanks to the Father above and seeking Him for the orders of the day. For what can a saint really do that could carry an eternal weight of glory except it be done in obedience to the One who holds the day firmly in His grasp? Just as a river finds its source from the high mountains that feed the underwater springs so true peace can only flow through the channels of the heart if it is birthed from the high and lofty throne of heaven. Jesus said He came to bring an eternal peace but it was not a peace such as the world flaunts, but a peace which comes from above — from the true and eternal fountain of peace (see John 14:27). The peace of the world is a counterfeit that leads the errant astray in all of its bling, yet it holds no eternal weight in the sight of God.

This is a point of truth that will never be understood by those who live in separation to God. For to taste the eternal peace from God one must be willing to forfeit themselves into His hands. One must be desirous of the things above. One must pursue them even as Jacob when he wrestled for the favor of God one dark night long ago (see Gen. 32:24-28). How long has it been since you rested your troubled soul in His peace? Have you strayed into the alluring pastures of emptiness and pleasure with hope that you may find rest in their promising entrapment’s? Have you found what Jesus said to be true? “In the world you will have tribulation”? (John 16:33b). God’s grace and His patient forbearance are qualities that He cannot deny because they are of His nature who He is.  Every day that I think of these qualities a whispered prayer of thanksgiving leaves my lips to find it’s home on His throne above. It He who sustains my heart, grants mercy, and bids me to continue on in faith. In doing so my heart is encompassed in the warmth of His love. Though the gales of darkness blow their hardest and the dearth that comes of depression choke me into amnesia and passivity I know that my Lord has never left me. His love is more encompassing than the air that ceaselessly touches every part of our body.

The peace that comes from the Lord above is an eternal peace that has been dispensed from everlasting. The prophet Micah penned the following as God breathed it through his obedient heart, “But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah, Though you are little among the thousands of Judah, Yet out of you shall come forth to Me The One to be Ruler in Israel, Whose goings forth are from of old, From everlasting“ (Micah 5:2).  As we enter into this season of grace, a season which takes hold of the eye of the saint only to fix it’s gaze upon the holy manger of the incarnate Lord from heaven, let us continually remember that it is His peace and His peace alone that can induce our hearts to eternal joy. And it is this joy of heart that gives us strength to face the coming days.

Only a saint with a firm grasp upon the throne of grace can find peace in a world of war and strife, be it spiritual or physical. Spurgeon went on to say, “God’s smile and a dungeon are enough for a true heart; His frown and a palace would be hell to a gracious spirit. Let the worst come to the worst, let all the talents go, we have not lost our treasure, for that is above, where Christ sitteth at the right hand of God.”