Pathways to Peace Psalm 37:34-38
34 Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land; When the wicked are cut off, you shall see it. 35 I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree. 36 Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; indeed I sought him, but he could not be found. 37 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace. 38 But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off.

In the study of this text I am impressed by its human writer. 2 Tim. 3:16 says, All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness. Another way to consider that verse and in so doing our text is to say the bible is divinely inspired but humanly attired. It must be worn and practiced by its readers, for what good is inspiration without application.

David is the writer of this passage. In it, he speaks of finding peace in life. If anyone has authority on such - he does. Few people, even in this day of access to the Holy Spirit by a sanctifying infilling has risen to the type of relationship with God as David. God’s testimony of him, found in Samuel, to King Saul was The Lord has sought for Himself a man after His own heart.

Can we agree that David is a source by which to consider the pursuit of personal peace because of his earnest desire for God who promises it?

David also endured failure. His mistakes do not need to be ours; yet he remains a source to understand the absence of the peace God desires for us. So from both the positive and negative David is a reliable consultant on the subject of finding and enjoying peace with God.

Somewhere and in sometimes, we will long for an experience of peace that includes the mind and soul. We begin life in a race. The gun sounds and off we go to capture all that shines and twinkles. Soon we are surrounded by all our achievements but even with this; many would trade what they have for a real sense of contentment. In His Word Jesus tells us Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. David gives us great insight on the pursuit of enjoying peace in life and begins by telling us

The Path to Peace Includes Patience (verse 34)
34 Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, And He shall exalt you to inherit the land.

David’s direction to have patience in God and to wait on Him comes from his personal experience. His life included waiting on God’s will for him. From David’s boyhood days it was revealed that God had plans for him to be the King of Israel. Peace can be ours when we enter and continue in the processes of life that God has ordained for us.

David had many ups and downs during his days of waiting and yes, he did experience times of difficulty and trauma as Saul relentlessly pursued and tried to kill him. Yet through it all he was able to keep a perspective that enabled him to endure hardships and wait for the Lord to fulfill his life.

Don’t confuse peace with ease. Things can be extremely difficult but if we are in the process of allowing God’s plans for us, we can have peace even in perplexing times. Paul put it well when writing to the Corinthians, We are hard-pressed on every side, yet not crushed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed. We cannot remove ourselves from hardships but we can have access to God’s peace regardless of circumstances. The secret is to be in pursuit of God’s perfect will.

Our biggest and most noble job is to seek and enter the plan has God for us. How sad to think of growing old wondering why God put us on the earth.

Ecclesiastes 11:9 says Rejoice, O young man, in your youth, And let your heart cheer you… Walk in the ways of your heart, And in the sight of your eyes; But know that for all these God will bring you into judgment. In other words we should rejoice in youthful days for this is the time to plan and chart our lives. But in the rejoicing, planning and charting we must realize that we will give an answer to God for all of our choices.

What a peace of mind we have when we include all that God has in store for us. It’s peaceful to think that when this life is over I can meet God with a clear conscience and without any fear because although things were not always easy I made great efforts to be faithful to His plans for me.

Yet, the hardest thing in all of this is to remain patient when the winds of adversity blow. Paul in his letter to the Thessalonian Church instructed them to remain faithfully patient in living for Jesus and said to them, Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way.

A peaceful life includes embarking upon God’s plans and allowing God to have the time and opportunity to fulfill them in you. Secondly we note that

The Path to Peace Avoids Comparison Type Living. (verse 35-36)
35 I have seen the wicked in great power, And spreading himself like a native green tree. Yet he passed away, and behold, he was no more; indeed I sought him, but he could not be found.

In observing how others, who avoid God lived, David was not rejoicing in their demise rather he pointed out that their actions did not determine his peace in God.

Cleavant Derricks wrote the old Gospel song we love to sing so much:
Now let us have a little talk with Jesus, let us tell Him all about our troubles, He will hear our faintest cry and He will answer by and by.

His lyrics remind me of the words of Jeremiah in talking to the Lord. He said; Let me talk with You about Your judgments. Why do the wicked prosper? Why are those who deal so treacherously happy? You have planted them, yes, they have taken root; they grow, yes, they bear fruit. You are near in their mouth But far from their minds. Jeremiah 12:1-2

To have a real sense of peace in our lives we must be completely Christ centered. When all that truly matters to us is in someway related to Him we can enjoy His fellowship which is in reality the greatest sense of peace we can ever know on this side of heaven.

Satan will always try to interrupt our fellowship (peace) with God and he can accomplish his attempt by getting us to look over the fence at others who may not be living for the Lord but seemingly prospering in this world.

There is a lesson we should learn and I have found this lesson to be true in my own experiences. As soon as the Lord speaks about a matter (anything) it becomes His command for me. Never forget we have a Master. As soon as we fully comprehend what He requires for us Satan will quickly try to get us to look at someone else and what they have or their circumstances. We must quickly learn that peace of mind and soul is found in doing the deeds of the Master and that outside of that sphere there is no true peace to be found.

A case in point that clearly bears this out is in the conversation between Jesus and Peter in the company of the other disciples just before Christ’s ascension to heaven. Jesus told Peter of how his future would unfold and that he would be led by others to places he did not care to go and of the type of death he would experience all for the sake of the gospel. As difficult as it may seem to the heart that does not know Jesus, He was providing for Peter a sense of peace and contentment even in the difficult prophesy He was sharing with him. No matter how difficult the task Jesus gives us you may rest assure of having His peace in that matter. As soon as Jesus revealed to Peter what was to in store for him he immediately said to Jesus “what about this man” in reference to John. Jesus said to Peter If I will that he remain till I come, what is that to you? You follow Me. The path to peace includes patiently waiting for the Lord to perfect His will in us and also avoiding comparing our lots to others and yet there remains another lesson from out text

The Path to Peace Parallels the Road to Righteousness Verse 37
37 Mark the blameless man, and observe the upright; for the future of that man is peace.

In a sense, the word blameless means to be totally acceptable to God in every way. How sad to think that the work Christ has already done for us on Calvary cannot make us completely acceptable to God and that we cannot always live acceptable to Him which includes living a victorious life in regards to sin. David says take note of the man who lives rightly before God because his future is that of peace.

How a person lives has everything to do with the qualities they include in their lives. A person who loves the Lord and who daily lives in the same conditions in which they were saved will enjoy peace in their lives. The conditions of salvation are:
- Faith in Jesus as God’s Son who has authority to forgive us of sin.
- Confession of sin realizing it is something done against God.
- Belief that Jesus will indeed forgive us of sin if we confess it to Him.
- Repent of all sin we have ever committed and change our mind toward sin in a sincere effort to not recommit it. We must plan to leave the life of sin behind.

Peace is found in living righteously before God. No matter what a person confesses about Christ if they haven’t entirely left a life of sin they cannot know God’s peace. The book of Isaiah provides two important statements regarding the relationship between living righteously and enjoying the peace of God. Isaiah 32:17 says, The work of righteousness will be peace, And the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance forever. Isaiah 57:2 says He shall enter into peace; They shall rest in their beds, Each one walking in his uprightness.

The old songwriter is right in saying there will be peace in the valley for me someday, but we need the benefit of peace before we get to heaven and we can have it here in this lifetime. How peaceful it is to know, regardless of the circumstances around me, that I am assured of God’s love and protection over me now and eternally. How peaceful it is to go through the day either in its ease or difficulties and rest in the Lord knowing that I have walked before Him in uprightness.

Jesus said Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and there are few who find it. The Bible clearly tells us that there are not as many people going to heaven as the world at large believes. One way we can know is if the peace of God is ours today.

Conclusion:
In a real sense peace is a spiritual commodity. Real peace can only be given to us by God through His Son Jesus Christ. Jesus declares this to be so as He tells us My Peace I give to you and it is unlike the peace of the world.

King David of old has given us three considerations of having God’s peace as he tells us:

1. The path to peace includes being patient as the perfect will of God is being brought about in us.

2. Peace means living in what God has for us and not what others are experiencing.

3. Peace without righteous living is impossible.

Do you have the peace of God in your life today?