Mensa Otabil - A Covenant of Peace
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Welcome to a brand new week. This week, we’re going to be looking at God’s peace-God’s peace to us in troubled times-and how we respond and receive God’s comfort when things are not as we wish them to be. So, we’ll be talking about the peace of the Lord throughout the week.
We start with Isaiah 54, verse 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 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 long-term effects.
So, when God speaks to us, everything he says has a covenantal quality. When God says, «I’m giving you peace,» he’s talking about a covenant. There’s a covenantal quality about the peace of the Lord, and 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 circumstances.
He says to them, «The mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but I’m not going to take my kindness from you.» The picture is very clear: mountains are not things that easily move, and hills don’t move. For Israel, especially, Jerusalem was surrounded by mountains and hills, and their safety and security stemmed from being a city surrounded by hills. God says, «Yes, hills are permanent by nature, but they can be removed.» Sometimes, things we think would never move get moved in our lives.
What happens when our mountains move and when the hills are changed? 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 taken away, but there will be a permanence 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, and then goes to pick up a cover cloth or a blanket and puts it on that child. That’s God’s covenant of peace.
When we are vulnerable and 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 will throw my covenant of peace around you.» So, we can trust the Lord that when everything is uncertain, 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 thought 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 will bring you the joy that only he can give to us.
Let’s pray. Say with me, «Heavenly Father, thank you that your covenant of peace towards me remains for all times and seasons. In Jesus' name, amen and amen.»