Proverbs 16:3

Devotional Thoughts

By David Wilkerson

“He makes wars cease” (Psalm 46:9). What welcome news to the child of God who is shattered and torn by warfare. The battle in our soul is his battle, and he alone can end it. Our loving Father will not permit the flesh or the devil to bully us into defeat.

The Hebrew word for war used by David in Psalm 46:9 is milchamah, which means “to feed on, consume, devour, eat, overcome.” It is from a root word that suggests food or bread for a beast. It usage here is simply marvelous, a cause for great rejoicing. It means that God is going to stop the enemy from consuming us, from devouring us.

The good news of the gospel is that we serve a God of absolute love — a God of mercies who desires to bring his beloved ones into a place above all turmoil. God’s ultimate goal for all his children is abundant life. He never intended for us to go through life focused on our sins and failures. But we cannot take our place, seated with Christ in the heavenlies, until we are fully identified with his death and resurrection.

The Holy Spirit has put within us a knowledge that we can never truly live until we die. We have a date with death, a destiny relating to the cross of Christ. Take a look at where you are, with all your fears, emptiness, loneliness, failures, and compromising. You have come up far short of what you know an overcoming Christian should be. Yet you know God’s Word speaks clearly of victory, of rest and peace, of freedom from sin’s dominion.

After the Word tells us that it is God who makes wars to cease, we see this added: “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). How thoroughly consistent is the Word of God! He makes wars to cease and until he finishes his work, we are to cease our own efforts and leave it in his hands.

How amazing to know that we can trust our future and restoration into the hands of Christ, our Lord and Savior. “Be still” today and let this truth bring peace to your soul.