Sowing Peace in the Valley

As we undergo trials, we often have trouble holding onto our peace. This is the first stage in how God shepherds us through difficult times.

Peace is like any other fruit of the Spirit; it involves maturation. Just as your wisdom matures, so does your peace. God is adding to it continually through all your experiences, the way any fruit is grown. Think about how a seed gets sown for a flowering plant. As it sprouts, the winds blow against it and rains flood it, yet God has fashioned it to withstand and grow through those regular pressures. He will sustain that plant, and eventually, it will bear amazing fruit.

I take comfort in the words of the psalmist who assures every heart that’s open to the shepherd’s faithful leading, “Mark the blameless and behold the upright, for there is a future for the man of peace” (Psalm 37:37, ESV). A faithful Christian may be shaken and seem blown around by troubles, but God’s future for that servant is peace.

If you don’t feel peace, just wait. It will grow. The promise of peace comes from God himself, and Jesus has already paid the price for it. Your tests and tribulations are building a future where you’ll not only walk in continual peace but bear its fruit, performing works of righteousness that will stand into eternity.

Submit to God’s leading, and trust in his creative work in you. It’s all part of the purpose he has in mind for your life. “If you have raced with men on foot, and they have wearied you, how will you compete with horses?” (Jeremiah 12:5). We’re created to run a race with his sustaining peace in our hearts.

We live in a time and place that preaches “prosperity, prosperity, prosperity,” but valleys come to us all. As God’s people, we know there is great purpose in our trials. That’s where the Lord’s merciful creativity happens. The valley is where we face the problem of peace, remember the price of peace and walk in his promise of peace.

There is no greener pasture than the heart that’s able to sow the peaceful fruit of righteousness. “Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever” (Psalm 23:6).