LOOKING IN THE RIGHT PLACE

Psalms 29:11 NKJV 

11 The Lord will give strength to His people; 

The Lord will bless His people with peace. 

I am writing this devotional on the Friday after Thanksgiving. This is the day commonly known as Black Friday. Black Friday gets its name from retailers who often have their biggest day of the retail sales year on this day. This is the day many retailers go into the black, meaning they go into the positive for the year. I can remember when people would get up in the wee hours of the morning to get in line for the Black Friday sales at the mall. This memory makes me appreciate the convenience of internet shopping today! And I have not digressed. I am going somewhere with this long, drawn out example. 

What if you got up early and stood in line at Walmart in order to get a Black Friday deal on a new car? But wait, Walmart sells most things, but they don't sell cars. You would be looking in the wrong place. Our verse for today talks about the Lord giving strength and peace to His people. But how many people are looking for strength and peace in the wrong place? They are shopping for cars at Walmart. 

The Lord gives strength to His people. The Lord will bless His people with peace. But here's the thing. When the Lord gives strength and peace, it is inside strength and peace, not outside. The Lord gives His people spiritual strength and spiritual peace. It starts in the heart. 

Too many times, people, myself included, have looked for something on the outside to strengthen us. We have sought something external to bring strength. People look for strength in relationships, status symbols, power positions, money, and the praise of others. People strived to strengthen their bodies, which is a good thing. But outside strength does not necessarily mean inside strength. People with big, strong bodies can still be weak in their inner life. People in power positions with many resources can still be hurting and small on the inside. Many people try to live outside in but our Creator, the One who knows us best, designed us to live inside out. 

The same principle that applies to strength applies to peace. People look to the external to generate the peace they crave. This involves everything from vacations, getting away from it all in the wilderness, and finding places of solitude and relaxation. Again, nothing is wrong with time away, but it rarely produces a lasting peace. It's a situational peace dependent on external circumstances. People also look for peace in escapism that ranges from excessive hobbies to the abuse of alcohol and drugs. The first can make you nonproductive. The latter can destroy your life and damage those around you. 

If we are looking in the wrong place for strength and peace, then we are on a never-ending quest. But if we will look to the Lord for His strength and His peace, then we are on track for something that lasts. And the beautiful thing about the Lord's strength and peace is that regardless of circumstances, what the Lord gives will sustain us. His strength is greater than our weaknesses. His peace can override our anxieties. And when we have strength and peace on the inside, we are much better equipped to take on the ever-changing outside. Then, we are living inside out. 

APPLICATION 

The key to applying this promise is the acknowledgment that God has strength and peace for you. He can strengthen you and fortify you from within by His word and by His Holy Spirit. The same applies to the Lord's peace. As you devote some time to Him, you gain more and more of His peace in your inner man. And that is a peace that passes all understanding. You can't explain it to others, but you're okay. You have been blessed with His peace. 

So look to the Lord as the giver of strength and peace for your life. And you can go to Him at any time. There is no need to wait for God to run a special Black Friday sale. 

PRAYER 

Thank You, Lord. I will look to You for the strength and peace that only comes from You, not what the world system offers.