The One Year Devotions for Women: Becoming a Woman at Peace

Introduction

Peace. What wouldn’t we give to have a little more of it? Peace in our relationships. Peace at home and at work. Peace despite painful memories. Peace in the midst of the pressures and demands that threaten to crush us. Is there a way to find peace in all these areas of our lives? What if we could build a moment of peace into every single day of the year, intentionally opening our hearts to the peace God has promised? What would it be like to live with less fear and anxiety and with more confidence and joy?

T

HE

mission of The One Year Devotions for Women: 365 Daily Inspirational Readings is to help you take hold of the peace God is offering. This peace is far richer and more satisfying than anything you or I can imagine.

When the Bible speaks of peace, it often uses the Hebrew word shalom. Like many Hebrew words, this one contains depths of meaning that the English word peace cannot fully convey. In addition to the idea of serenity, tranquility, and the absence of conflict, shalom also means wholeness, healing, success, completeness, soundness, perfection, and good relationships. Shalom sums up all the blessings God can give to those he loves.

I hope that as you join me this year, you will become a woman who is capable of enjoying more of the peace God has for you. As his Spirit works in your heart, I pray that God will show you how to spread his peace to others so that they, too, might come to know that no matter what has happened in the past or what might happen in the future, they are safe in God’s keeping.

As you begin this year, remember the ancient prayer God instructed Moses to pray over his people. Although first prayed thousands of years ago in the midst of a Middle Eastern desert, the words emanate from the mind of our eternal God, expressing his heart toward us today.

May the L

ORD

bless you

and protect you.

May the L

ORD

smile on you

and be gracious to you.

May the L

ORD

show you his favor

and give you his peace.

NUMBERS 6:24-26

—Ann Spangler

January

1   2   3   4   5   6   7   8   9   10   11   12   13   14   15   16   17   18   19   20   21   22   23   24   25   26   27   28   29   30   31

JANUARY 1

Begin with the End

I am leaving you with a gift—peace of mind and heart.

JOHN 14:27

Y

OU

have probably heard of Stephen R. Covey’s book The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. Covey’s second habit for living effectively is to begin with the end in mind. What does he mean by that? Simply that there are two steps to creating anything. The first step involves envisioning exactly what it is you want to create, and the second involves making sure that your life is aligned with that vision so that every day you can do something toward achieving your goal.

To put flesh on the bones of this concept, Covey explains that before you build a house, you’ve got to know exactly what kind of home you want. Once you know that, you can have a blueprint drawn up and can develop construction plans. Before digging the first shovelful of dirt or hammering the first nail into place, you have to have a plan. After that, he says, you put it into bricks and mortar. Each day you go to the construction shed and pull out the blueprint to get marching orders for the day. You begin with the end in mind.[1]

Similarly, if you want to live a life of greater peace, you need to begin by envisioning what that life will look like. Fortunately, you needn’t develop this vision on your own because God has already provided it. He has also graciously offered a blueprint that, when followed, will lead to a life characterized by deeper levels of his peace.

Why not respond to his offer today by asking him to help you envision the rich and enduring peace he wants to give? Then use the devotions that follow as your construction shed, a place where you can pore over God’s blueprint and receive your marching orders for the day. As you go through the year, who knows what wonderful things may happen as you earnestly seek God’s peace?

Consider taking a few moments now to commit the months ahead to the Lord. As the months unfold, I pray you will experience him drawing near, showing you how to put the bricks and mortar of a more peaceful life into place.

Father, I want to experience your peace in deeper ways. Please open my soul to your grace, so I will miss nothing of what you want to give me.

[1] Stephen R. Covey, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People (New York: Free Press, 2004), 99.

JANUARY 2

God Understands

The L

ORD

is like a father to his children, tender and compassionate to those who fear him. For he knows how weak we are; he remembers we are only dust.

PSALM 103:13-14

I had a meeting recently with two people who were helping me get up to speed on social media. Both have extensive experience working with nontechies like me. During the course of our time together, they happened to mention a couple of phrases that caught my attention. For instance, when speaking with colleagues about a computer problem, they sometimes say, There seems to be a problem between the keyboard and the chair. Translation: nothing’s wrong with the computer; it’s the person operating the computer who’s causing all the difficulty. Or they’ll talk about a defective end user. Same translation.

As someone who’s not a quick study when it comes to computers and technology, I’ve always appreciated how patient and nonjudgmental computer techs can be when it comes to dealing with people like me. Though defective end user doesn’t exactly roll off the tongue, it does inject a note of humor and objectivity into their quest to help the less technologically gifted.

I like to think that God deals with us in a similar way. Seeing our struggles to live for him, he realizes that we are all defective end users, and he does not judge us harshly. He knows how difficult it can be for us to get it, to respond to his leading or to do his will perfectly. He understands that, at times, our ignorance can create unintended havoc.

In the midst of your struggles, give yourself a break. Remember that you belong to a tender and compassionate God who wants to help you. Instead of imagining that he’s disappointed in you or judging you, try to imagine him patiently extending his grace to help resolve whatever problem still exists between the keyboard and the chair.

Father, you know I want to live for you. Yet sometimes I fail. When that happens, help me to get up and keep going, confident that you are there to help.

JANUARY 3

Who’s Watching Over You?

The L

ORD

keeps watch over you as you come and go, both now and forever.

PSALM 121:8

I sometimes wonder if I’m spiritually hearing impaired. I wonder if God has to shout to get my attention or repeat things more times than he should have to so that I will finally get the message.

I remember hobbling into Dr. Shirley Kleiman’s office one day, nearly bent over with pain from a back that had been twisted out of shape by an ill-considered roller-coaster ride. Dr. Kleiman is one of the best physical therapists my back has ever encountered, and it’s tough to get an appointment with her. But I had prayed, and friends had prayed because I was heading out of town the next day on a business trip and didn’t think I could endure the plane ride without some help. Somebody must be watching over you, Dr. Kleiman commented as she walked into the room, acknowledging how hard it was to get a last-minute appointment.

The following week I made some repairs to the roof of my home. I’d postponed them as long as I dared, praying to make it through the winter without problems. That spring, one of the roofers who bid on the job had confirmed what I already knew. Portions of the roof were in a pretty sorry state. He couldn’t believe we had made it through the winter without a leak. Somebody must be watching over you, he said. Then a month later, after he and his men had completed the repairs and I was settling the bill, there it was again: I can’t believe that roof didn’t give you trouble over the winter. Somebody must be looking out for you. This time the words sank in. I had prayed, and God had helped. He was looking out for me and my family. He knew exactly what we needed, and he had provided.

I wonder how much more peaceful our lives would be if we could finally settle the question of God’s faithfulness. No matter what happens, whether life is hard or easy, each of us will enjoy more peace if we can learn to lean into the relationship we have with God our Father. He will watch over us, just as Psalm 121:8 promises. Today let us pray for the grace to trust in his watchful, loving care.

Father, thank you for watching over me, for hearing my prayers, and for preserving my life.

JANUARY 4

Paper Losses

Let me reveal to you a wonderful secret. We will not all die, but we will all be transformed!

1 CORINTHIANS 15:51

A few weeks ago I was on the phone with my financial adviser. Mark, I have to thank you, I said. If it hadn’t been for you, I would have sold everything at the absolute bottom of the market. It felt good to thank him now that my portfolio no longer looked so anemic. If Mark hadn’t been there to temper my fear, I’m sure I would have gotten rid of everything, locking in my losses when the market was down by more than 50 percent. Fear can have such devastating effects.

That’s true in our spiritual lives as well. God has promised us many things. He tells us that he is good, he is our loving Father, he will never fail us or forsake us. Such assurances may not be hard to believe when life is on an upswing. But what about those times when our lives resemble a bear market? How do we think about God when we’ve lost our livelihood, suffered an accident, fallen ill, been betrayed by someone we love? What then? Do we shake a fist? Do we tell ourselves that God doesn’t care? Do we let doubt corrode our faith? At such times it can be tempting to throw up our hands, to say we’ve had enough of this God and his fantastic promises. But to do so would be turning our backs on everything we know to be true. It would be giving up our hope. It would be selling out and locking in our losses.

Fortunately God has promised to make everything right—if not now, then surely in the end. The last will be first. The hungry will be satisfied. Those who weep will laugh. As today’s verse says, we will all be transformed. Because we are God’s beloved children, we will live and not die. We will also, I believe, be given the grace to look back on earthly sorrows and recognize them for what they are: paper losses. At times these losses are painful, frightening, and grievous—but they will one day be redeemed. Today, ask for the grace to keep believing. Refuse to lock in your losses, and instead choose to keep trusting in Christ.

Lord, today I choose to believe. Help me by your grace to keep believing, no matter what happens.

JANUARY 5

Facing the Future with Peace

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

PSALM 139:7

O

NE

of my readers wrote to me recently in order to share an experience she had while singing a song about God’s names. There is a point in the song, she explained, when all the music stops and the choir whispers every name of God that comes to mind. It was so powerful. It moved us all to tears. I felt like I needed to take off my shoes because I was standing on holy ground.

Her words reminded me of times in my own life when I have experienced the Lord in a particularly strong way. One of the most vivid was in Jerusalem. During the hottest part of a sweltering midsummer day, I decided to walk over to the Western Wall. Called the Wailing Wall, it is part of the ancient retaining wall of the Temple Mount and Judaism’s most sacred site. Although the heat was excruciating, that afternoon ended up being the highlight of my time in Israel. It’s hard to describe the awe I felt, not because of the ancient stones, but because of a sense that I was in the presence of the Father.

I had been to the Western Wall on a previous trip and felt nothing out of the ordinary. But in that moment, in that place, all the devotion and reverence I had witnessed since I traveled to this ancient land seemed to coalesce. Sensing the greatness of God as never before, I was aware that I was standing in the presence of the one the Bible calls Yahweh Shalom, a name that means the Lord is peace. I wish I could tell you that I commonly experience God in this way. I don’t. But I will not forget the peace I experienced in that moment.

Fortunately, you needn’t travel around the world to experience more of God. He is near right now, regardless of whether you are aware of his presence. As the year begins, join me in praying for the grace to become mindful of his presence and open to the peace he wants to give.

Father, bring me into your presence today. Help me this year to experience you as Yahweh Shalom.

JANUARY 6

Try Harder?

Peace be with you, [Jesus] said. . . . They were filled with joy when they saw the Lord! Again he said, Peace be with you. As the Father has sent me, so I am sending you. Then he breathed on them and said, Receive the Holy Spirit.

JOHN 20:19-22

I

MAGINE

that you are at the starting line of a race. You have been training for months. You’ve competed on this track before, but today you are determined to win. As soon as the starting gun goes off, you break out in a burst of speed. Amazingly, you keep it up, rounding the track twice and then heading across the finish line. But guess what? Despite your heroic efforts, and the fact that this was your best time yet, you lose again. It isn’t for lack of trying. Your problem is that you aren’t properly equipped to win a race against a Porsche!

That’s only a rough analogy to highlight the fact that merely trying hard won’t win the race when it comes to living our lives as Christians. Even though many of us are working very hard at it, we rarely, if ever, experience the joy and peace that are promised in the Bible. So what’s the problem?

Perhaps we are still holding the reins of our lives too tightly, afraid to surrender ourselves to God’s Spirit. Pastor Jim Cymbala points out that the irony of Spirit-filled living is that we have to give up power in order to gain a greater power. How many times in your Christian walk, he asks, "have you come to a place where you struggled to do something, so you just tried harder? . . . How did that work out for you? Trying harder has never gone well for me.

Christianity is not a self-effort religion but rather one of power—the ability and might of the Spirit. . . . The Spirit is the only one who can produce self-discipline, love, and boldness. But to do so, he has to control us daily.[1]

Join me today in forsaking the temptation to retain control of your life. Together, let us ask for the grace to surrender more fully to the Holy Spirit, allowing God to guide and energize our lives with the power that comes from him.

Father, you know how afraid I am of letting go, even into your good hands. Please help me to surrender myself to you daily, confident that your Spirit, who lives in me, is more than able to do the things I can’t.

[1] Jim Cymbala, Spirit Rising (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2012), 43.

JANUARY 7

The Peace God Promises

The L

ORD

bless you and keep you; the L

ORD

make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you; the L

ORD

lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

NUMBERS 6:24-26,

NKJV

M

ORE

than thirty years ago, at a site just south of Jerusalem, archaeologists unearthed two rolled-up pieces of pliable silver, about the size of a credit card. Delicately etched on each plaque were words drawn from the priestly blessing enshrined in Numbers 6:

The L

ORD

bless and keep you; the L

ORD

make his face shine upon you and give you peace.

Dating to the late seventh century BC, these small silver plaques contain the earliest written citations of Scripture ever found. Perhaps they also bear witness to what must surely have been a primordial longing of our species—the desire for peace.

But what exactly is peace? When most of us think of peace, we think of an absence of conflict or the sense of tranquility we sometimes feel after a walk in the park or a day at the beach. But the Hebrew word shalom is far brawnier than the English word peace, encompassing these ideas and more. Shalom contains the idea of completeness. It is the sum of all the blessings God can bestow—healing, prosperity, soundness, well-being, good relationships, perfection. It is what happens when God shines his face on you, when he turns toward you in all his greatness and brings you good.

After the daily sacrifice, the Israelite priests would extend their hands to pray this blessing over the people. As the priests prayed, it became customary for them to leave an opening in their fingers and for the people to cover their heads with their prayer shawls. They did this to express their reverence, believing the shekinah (the cloud of God’s presence) was hovering over their heads and its light was streaming through the open fingers of the priests.

What a beautiful image of the kind of peace God has promised to those who love him. As you seek God for a greater measure of peace this year, ask him for his shalom. Today as you pray, bow down before the Lord in reverence, asking him to shine his face upon you and give you peace.

Father, I want the shalom you promise. Please bless me and protect me, smile on me, and be gracious to me. Show me your favor, Lord.

JANUARY 8

Be Grateful

Always be joyful. Never stop praying. Be thankful in all circumstances, for this is God’s will for you who belong to Christ Jesus.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:16-18

W

HAT

does gratitude have to do with experiencing a life of greater peace? Gratitude is like a compass that can help us get our bearings. Imagine wandering in a great wilderness with no obvious way out. You’ve lost the trail completely. Alone and anxious, you wonder how on earth you will ever find your way home. It’s a frightening and disheartening experience. But then you remember. Digging deep into your backpack, you find the compass. With it, you know you can make your way to safety.

Like the compass, gratitude helps us find our bearings. It points us in the right direction—toward God, who is the source of all our blessings. I try to remind my children of the importance of giving thanks. When they can’t find anything to be thankful about, I start reminding them: a house to live in, a family who loves them, friends, sunshine, food, fun, freedom, health, and on and on and on. Living with gratitude is like living with your face to the sun. It orients you to goodness rather than complaint.

I wish I could tell you that my face is always oriented toward the sun, that I am always as grateful as I should be. I’m not. But when I need to dig myself out of a hole, I find that gratitude makes an excellent shovel.

Join me today in turning your back on all that is wrong in your life, on every complaint and shadow that haunts you. And turn your face toward God. Give him thanks and praise, remembering all the good he’s ever done for you.

Lord, thank you for revealing yourself to me, for daily blessings, for rescue and grace and mercy and goodness. Thank you for a future that is full of hope. Give me a grateful heart, and keep my face always turned toward you.

JANUARY 9

Shalom

The peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.

JOHN 14:27

I love the word peace. It captures the way I feel standing on the shores of Lake Michigan or the relief that comes from a great massage or the comfort I feel knowing my children are safe. Even so, the word itself begins to look rather plain, more like one of Cinderella’s stepsisters than Cinderella herself, when you start comparing it to the Hebrew word shalom. Why? Because shalom far outshines it, containing, as it does, ideas of calm, completion, harmony, wholeness, healing, wellness, perfection, safety, soundness, success, prosperity. When there is shalom, life is as it should be. We are as we should be. Nothing is off kilter. To taste shalom is to taste paradise. It is to touch the life God intended us to have.

We know, of course, that this original shalom has been shattered by sin. Instead of shalom, myriad evils have entered our world. Fortunately, God has no intention of giving up on his original idea of creating a world full of peace. Instead, he sent his Son to make a costly sacrifice in order to restore the peace, which is why Paul spoke to the Romans, saying, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace (Romans 10:15,

NKJV

).

This year as you focus on becoming a woman at peace, don’t settle for less than God intends to give you. Ask him to show you the things that make for true shalom. The peace you long for, the peace God promises, will only be fully established when Jesus comes again. But even now, those of us who belong to him can grow in our experience of his promised peace. To quote Etty Hillesum, a woman who perished in a Nazi death camp during World War II, Ultimately, we have just one moral duty: to reclaim large areas of peace in ourselves, more and more peace, and to reflect it toward others. And the more peace there is in us, the more peace there will also be in our troubled world.[1]

Father, I pray that you will show me the way to peace. Help me grow in shalom as I seek to follow you. And as I do, help me spread your peace to others.

[1] Etty Hillesum, The Letters and Diaries of Etty Hillesum, 1941-1943 (Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans, 2002), 535–36.

JANUARY 10

Listen

Jesus replied, "The most important commandment is this: ‘Listen, O Israel! The L

ORD

our God is the one and only L

ORD

.’"

MARK 12:29

U

NLIKE

our unruly tongues, our ears rarely get us into trouble, unless, of course, they stop functioning, as in the case of a man who doesn’t hear the whistle of an oncoming train or a child who fails to register cries of warning as she edges too close to a cliff.

Although the Hebrew word shema (pronounced shmah) is translated as hear or listen, it means more than what we normally think of as hearing, which is a rather passive activity. Shema implies acting on what has been heard. That’s why our English Bibles frequently translate the word shema as obey.[1]

Many of the Old Testament prophets preceded their announcements with the phrase Hear the word of the Lord. In other words, listen to what God is saying, and then do what he tells you to do. Though the New Testament was written in Greek, Jesus would have been familiar with this understanding, which is why he said, Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand (Mark 4:9). Hearing God means not only listening to what he says but doing what he asks.

Fortunately this active way of hearing is a two-way street. We can be confident that when God hears our prayers, the implication is that he will act in accordance with our best interests. Listen to the words of the psalmist:

I cried out to him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love from me!

PSALM 66:17-20, NIV

If you want God to hear your prayers, make sure you are doing your best to hear his voice.

Father, when your Spirit descended on Jesus in the Jordan River, you said: This is my dearly loved Son. Listen to him (Mark 9:7). Help me to listen.

[1] For a more complete discussion consult Lois Tverberg, Listening to the Language of the Bible (Holland, MI: En-Gedi Resource Center, 2006), 3–4.

JANUARY 11

Wicked Ways

Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.

PSALM 139:23-24

I

N

Psalm 139, David bravely invites God to search his heart, asking him to point out anything offensive. The King James Version says it more forcefully: Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. The phrase wicked way vividly describes what is off kilter in a person’s life. It can literally be translated as the way of pain.[1]

Certainly the way of pain can be seen in personal experience. Sin deforms and destroys, spreading pain to whomever it touches. That is why God hates it.

Though we share God’s hatred for sins like murder, rape, and theft, many of us find other sins more tolerable. What is so bad about a little bit of gossip, a touch of greed, an isolated flirtation with lust? These seem more like ways of pleasure than pain. And so we indulge them, refusing to consider where they will eventually lead us.

The way to the good life, to life everlasting, is to find peace with God by embracing what he thinks is good, whether or not it appears good to us. Remember the words of the proverb: There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death (Proverbs 14:12). Join me today in asking God to uncover any way of pain that has burrowed its way into your heart, whether from your sins or the sins of others. May the Lord be gracious to you, healing, forgiving, and restoring. And may he lead you in the way everlasting.

Father, put a spotlight on my heart and show me what is there. Help me to repent of whatever displeases you, trusting that your grace is sufficient to deal with the things in my life that need to change.

[1] I first encountered this insight in a reflection by Carol Knapp in Daily Guideposts 2011 (New York: Guideposts, 2011), 14.

JANUARY 12

Passionate Faith

May the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again.

1 THESSALONIANS 5:23

W

HEN

I was growing up, it wasn’t unusual for me to reach into our family’s cookie jar and find the world’s favorite cookies inside. You know the ones I’m talking about—those round black cookies with the delectable white frosting in between. Neither was it unusual to bite into one of those Oreos and find myself chewing on quite another treat than the one I thought I had just popped into my mouth. Instead of a sweet, luscious mouthful, I found myself chewing on dry crumbs. Someone had sneaked them out of the jar, eaten the creamy inside, and then put the two round cookies together again, hoping no one would notice. Of course, the culprits were my two younger brothers.

I tell the story, not merely to expose their crime, but to make the point that faith can be like those Oreo cookies. Think about it. The cream inside is what really makes those cookies work. Nobody would buy them without it. Likewise, the passion we have for Christ is what makes our faith work. Without that passion, that love relationship, everything else becomes tasteless and dry.

Many people who identify themselves as Christians just go through the motions, attending church and paying lip service to their faith while their hearts are far from God. Perhaps they never had a personal encounter with Christ, or perhaps they drifted away from their first love. This can happen slowly, under the radar. The passion we have for Christ begins to dissipate and then degrade. Finally it simply slips away, making the faith we profess dry and tasteless. Instead of having a vibrant faith, we become merely religious. When that happens, we desperately need the Holy Spirit to restore and renew us.

Pursuing peace apart from Christ will, in the end, prove to be the most fruitless of journeys. Only the peace he offers has the power to transform our lives and take us where we want to go.

Father, you know the state of my heart. Please show me what is there and give me more grace, more faith, and more passion to live for you.

JANUARY 13

Lessons in the Dark

He uncovers mysteries hidden in darkness; he brings light to the deepest gloom.

JOB 12:22

I wish I were a quick study, not when it comes to learning subjects like math or physics, but in becoming more Christlike. But spiritual growth is difficult, and it’s often counterintuitive. Jesus tells me to stop worrying, yet my sleepless nights persist. He tells me to turn the other cheek when my instinct is to raise the other fist. He talks of dying and carrying a cross when all I want to do is enjoy every minute of the life I have. Maybe I suffer from a mental block when it comes to spiritual things. I can’t get it through my head that there’s no such thing as an easy path for becoming the person Christ calls me to be.

Carol Kuykendall knows what it’s like to follow a path she never would have chosen. Her husband, Lynn, had nearly been pronounced cured when the results of a recent MRI showed that his brain tumor was back. This time, Carol says, their fears are bigger because the cancer now has more devastating effects and the statistics for surviving it are worse. Yet, she says, "as I look back at our earlier journey down this same unpredictable path, I remember how we discovered surprising doses of God’s hope all along the way.

There’s a saying that you should ‘remember in the dark what you learned in the light.’ But as we begin this journey again, I’m remembering in the dark what I learned in the dark: that God gives us enough light to direct our paths, one step at a time, and what we need when we need it most.[1] Carol is able to share these hope-filled words, even though she and her husband are facing a difficult journey.

Perhaps you know someone who is suffering in ways you can hardly imagine. Take a moment to pray for that person now and determine to keep him or her in your prayers. As you do, ask God for the faith to realize that, no matter how unpredictable or difficult your own path may sometimes feel, he is using the darkness to teach you how to become more like the Christ you love.

Father, my default setting is toward ease and pleasure. Help me not to fall apart when life gets difficult, but to grow in faith and courage, trusting that you will bring light out of even the darkest times.

[1] Carol Kuykendall in Daily Guideposts 2011 (New York: Guideposts, 2011), 26.

JANUARY 14

Wholeness

He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of Christ’s blood on the cross. This includes you who were once far away from God. You were his enemies, separated from him by your evil thoughts and actions. Yet now he has reconciled you to himself through the death of Christ in his physical body. As a result, he has brought you into his own presence, and you are holy and blameless as you stand before him without a single fault.

COLOSSIANS 1:20-22

A

S

I write this, the media has been chasing a story about a prominent politician who fathered a child with a woman who had worked for his family for twenty years. The man’s inability to control his desires damaged not only his wife, who is divorcing him, but his children, the maid with whom he had the affair, and the son she bore. For thirteen years this politician kept the secret until the media exposed it. He’s one more example of a person who, despite his power, couldn’t control himself.

This story is a microcosm of the human predicament. Fashioned for relationship with God, we are meant to be people of integrity, the same on the inside as we are on the outside. But sin has driven a wedge into our lives, creating an internal rift that alienates us from ourselves, from others, and from God. It’s what makes us want to hide, to wear disguises that make us look better and less broken than we are. The wholeness and integrity that God has for us, on the other hand, eliminates the need for deceit because we have nothing to hide. This is the internal peace, the shalom that Christ brings us as we continue to yield our lives to him, healing the divisions within us so that we can have peace with God, with others, and with ourselves.

As you pray for God’s peace today, ask for the grace to admit your brokenness. Ask, too, for the faith to believe that God will heal you and make you whole.

Lord, you breathed life into the first man and the first woman. They were your perfect creations. In the midst of my brokenness, breathe your life. Heal me and make me whole, I pray.

JANUARY 15

The Weakness of Violence

Put away your sword, Jesus told him. Those who use the sword will die by the sword.

MATTHEW 26:52

"L

ONDON

Is Burning." That was one of the headlines during the violent August 2011 protests in England’s capital city. The uproar began when police shot and killed a twenty-six-year-old man. In response, rioters created mayhem across London and other British cities, killing at least five people and injuring others. Whether the violence was a result of simple thuggery or social inequalities is a matter of debate. But what most people would not debate is that violence is no way to solve the problem.

Martin Luther King Jr. once elegantly explained why, pointing out that the ultimate weakness of violence is that it is a descending spiral, begetting the very thing it seeks to destroy . . . adding deeper darkness to a night already devoid of stars. Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate: only love can do that.[1]

When I was a teenager, I was so frustrated by a family member’s drinking problem that I was tempted to make a public spectacle of my anger, taking every last bottle of alcohol in the house and dumping the whole mess into the street. Maybe a heap of broken glass would finally make the point. Years later, after I had moved away from home and given my life to Christ, I realized that all my critical, argumentative comments had only added more darkness to the situation. So I resolved, instead, to do my best to love the person, pray faithfully, and speak the truth, but only when absolutely necessary. A few years passed and then, through an act of tremendous grace, the person I loved stopped drinking. That was more than twenty years ago.

Most of us aren’t guilty of taking our anger to the streets. But what happens in our homes when ugly arguments and critical attitudes do violence to the spirit? Let’s remember that hate is nothing but a ninety-pound weakling, too weak to win a fight with itself. Just as light is the only thing that can drive out darkness, the only thing strong enough to drive out hatred is God’s love.

Lord, you know how easy it is to get hooked into negative attitudes and arguments at home. Please help my family and me to find better ways of dealing with our difficulties.

[1] Martin Luther King Jr., Where Do We Go from Here (address to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, August 16, 1967).

JANUARY 16

Hidden Pain

Dear friends, never take revenge. Leave that to the righteous anger of God.

ROMANS 12:19

T

HERE

are a thousand reasons why the peace we desire eludes us. I stumbled across one of them the other day when one of my daughter’s friends confided in me. A solid athlete, Kaitlin was shocked and disappointed when she didn’t make her high school track team. I had been praying for her to make the team because I thought her involvement in sports would be good for her. But I also knew that the competition would be fierce, especially for a girl who hadn’t been training recently.

The day after Kaitlin got the bad news, she told me that none of the girls from her former middle school had made the team. She wondered if the coach had been biased against them. Stung by his perceived rejection, Kaitlin said she hoped the team would lose every meet, because maybe then the coach would know he needed her.

It hasn’t worked out that way, and Kaitlin is still fuming. She can’t seem to take responsibility for her own lack of discipline. Nor can she take hope from the positive feedback the coach gave her after the tryouts and his encouragement to try again next year.

My young friend needs the grace to experience her disappointment and then let it go. Why is that so hard? Because, I am guessing, her sense of righteous indignation is a shield against her pain. But this kind of shield actually keeps the pain alive because pain is the only thing fueling her desire for revenge.

What hurt or disappointment are you holding on to? Is it fueling attitudes that are stealing your peace? Ask God to show you exactly what’s in your heart. And then ask him for the grace to let it go, replacing your hurt with his peace.

Show me, Lord, what is in my heart. Uncover the pain and the hurt. Let me look at it in the safety of your presence. And then give me the grace to let it go.

JANUARY 17

Getting the Facts Straight

Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The L

ORD

is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless.

ISAIAH 40:28-29

H

AVE

you ever heard of brain school? It’s an educational program, also known as Arrowsmith, developed more than thirty years ago in Toronto. Based on brain plasticity, the capacity of the brain to change and heal itself if given the right kind of stimulation, the program has enabled many children with learning disabilities to grasp what they’re taught.

Many of these children have trouble with what educators call working memory. For instance, they will learn their math facts and then forget them. Then they will learn them again and forget them again. No matter how hard they try, they can’t seem to hold on to the facts they’ve learned. Fortunately, such children no longer need to be locked in this vicious cycle. By targeting certain areas of the brain with exercises designed to improve specific brain functions, the Arrowsmith Program enables children to increase their working memory so that they can retain the information they learn.

When it comes to retaining theological truth—truth about God—some of us have our own problems with working memory. At times we seem to have a solid grasp on God’s goodness and love. Our faith sustains us through many difficulties. But there are other times when we seem to lose the memory of who God is and what he has done for us. He seems distant. We feel tired out by life’s endless challenges. Fortunately, our spirits are as plastic as our brains. Because of God’s grace, it is possible not only to learn the truth, but to remember it when life gets difficult. Today let us ask God to increase our spiritual memory, so that with John Newton, the author of Amazing Grace, we, too, can say:

Through many dangers, toils and snares

I have already come;

’Tis Grace that brought me safe thus far

and Grace will lead me home.

JANUARY 18

Running Away

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence!

PSALM 139:7

M

Y

sister and I made a pact. We would run away from home together. Our parents weren’t that bad, we agreed, but we’d both had enough of our older brother. It was time to go. Here’s what we agreed on. The first one to wake in the middle of the night promised to wake the other. Together we would steal out of the house and make our way to a nearby park where we would live. The only hard part would be deciding which picnic table to camp under.

Ever felt like running away—even as an adult? I have. Maybe that’s why I love Margaret Wise Brown’s classic children’s story, The Runaway Bunny. Perhaps you remember it. The book is about a mother rabbit and a baby bunny who has determined to run away from home. The bunny tells his mother that if she runs after him, he will become a fish and swim away from her. But his mother assures him that she will become a fisherman who will fish for him. Delightful images parade across the pages as the bunny thinks of ingenious means of escape while the mother even more ingeniously assures him of her love and determination not to let him go. In the end, the bunny gives up, deciding to stay home and be his mother’s baby bunny.

A friend of mine suggested that Psalm 139 reminds her of The Runaway Bunny. As soon as she said this, I understood why it had always been one of my favorite psalms. Listen to how the psalmist describes his experience of God:

I can never escape from your Spirit! I can never get away from your presence! If I go up to heaven,