Mensa Otabil - God's Covenant of Peace (10/11/2025)
Welcome to a brand new week. This week, we are going to look at God’s peace-God’s peace to us in troubled times-and how we respond to and receive God’s comfort when things are not as we wish them to be. We will be talking about the peace of the Lord throughout the week, and we start with Isaiah chapter 54, verse number 10.
For the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed; but my kindness shall not depart from you, nor shall my covenant of peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you. God is a God of covenant, and throughout the Bible, you see God making covenants with people. This means that when God gets himself involved in a situation, he binds himself to relationships, whether it’s with Noah, Abraham, Israel, or us. When we make Jesus Christ the Lord of our lives, God is a God of covenant. His word and his promises are consequential, and they have a long-term effect.
So, when God speaks to us, everything he says has a covenantal quality. Therefore, when God says, «I’m giving you peace,» he’s talking about a covenant. There is a covenantal quality about the peace of the Lord. This is what God is saying to Israel in very troubled times. The nation has been desolated, but God says, «In spite of all that is happening, I’m still with you, and I will take you through.» I believe God says the same thing to us in our time and in our circumstances.
He says to them, «The mountains may depart and the hills may be removed,» but he says, «I’m not going to take my kindness from you.» The picture is very clear: mountains are not things that easily move; hills don’t move. For Israel, especially, Jerusalem was surrounded by mountains and hills, and their safety and security came from being a city surrounded by hills. God says, «Yes, hills are permanent naturally, but they can be removed.» Sometimes, things that we think will never move get moved in our lives.
What happens when our mountains move and when the hills are removed? When our safety is no longer safe? God says, «When that happens, my covenant of peace shall not be removed.» There may be times when things you trust in are removed, but there will be a permanent aspect in your life, and that permanence is God’s covenant of peace. God’s covenant of peace is like a protective covering that is thrown upon us. It’s like a parent who sees a child sleeping, maybe on a sofa or a bench, then goes to pick a cover cloth or a blanket and puts it on that child. That’s God’s covenant of peace.
When we are vulnerable, when we are exposed, when danger is around us, and we don’t even know the danger, God says, «I’m your Father; I see what you’re going through, and I’ll throw my covenant of peace around you.» We can trust the Lord that when everything is uncertain, just as it happened in Jerusalem, God says, «The mountains may be removed, the hills may be gone, what you trusted in may not be there, what you think would never change has changed. But I am with you, and my covenant of peace is with you.»
Through Jesus Christ, God establishes a covenant of peace with us. Jesus is our peace, and in him, God’s covenant of peace is renewed to each one of us. This week, as you start the week, just be assured that God has a covenant of peace with you, and when things change all around you, God’s covenant of peace will not change. He will see you through and bring you the joy that only he can give to us.
Let’s pray. Heavenly Father, thank you that your covenant of peace towards me remains for all times and seasons. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.