Joy of January Day 12: Shalom

Shalom. Peace. This is a term the Lord keeps on bringing up in my life this semester. Call it a theme, if you will. This week I am being faced with a lot of hard decisions about my future. There is a lot of unknown and a lot of room to make a decision that could lead to regret or a decision that may lead to the best life ever! However, no one is to know which is which. It's like looking at two doors and you can only choose one to open, and that is your final decision. No turning back. I'm terrified of the unknown. Terrified of the known that with a mystery ending. Shalom.

This is who the Lord has declared himself to me. Jehovah Shalom: My God is Peace. There is only one time when the Lord was referenced in such a way in the scriptures, and that is the attribute ascribed by Gideon. Gideon was the weakest in his family. He was a no body. There was no reason for anyone to look to him as a leader, especially in a time of war, but the Lord called him. In a time when the enemy was on the move, ready to take over the Israeli nation, the Lord called Gideon to lead his army. Gideon questioned God. He asked for sign after sign, and in patience the Lord answered each of Gideon's requests until he accepted and declared Jehovah Shalom. My God is Peace. 
And thus is my God. I am in a time of anxiety. The enemy is on the prowl, with an aim to cause confusion. However, the Lord has called me and my God is Peace. Gideon lead a handful of men against the army of thousands. He did not fight with weapons and destruction, but with a song and a light. This is what the Lord had called him to, and this is the call has placed upon me. Though I am small, I am called to use small, simple things to win the battle against evil. 

When Galadriel asked Gandalf  why the Hobbit he answered, "Saruman believes it is only great power that can hold evil in check, but that is not what I have found. I found it is the small everyday deeds of ordinary folk that keep the darkness at bay. Small acts of kindness and love." 
May my small ordinariness put evil at bay. May those that I come in contact with find courage to defeat their darkness, because my small acts of kindness and love drives out the evil. 
My God is Peace. 

Habakkuk 3:19
"The Sovereign LORD is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, he enables me to go on the heights" 

I went to coffee with a wonderful friend today, and she said the Lord had placed this verse in her path this past weekend. Ironically, he had done the same for me. I gave my cheap version of what I thought it meant to me, but when she described her experience with deer, this verse resonated so much more with my spirit. 
She said that deer are light creatures that make their home in the valleys where there is growth. They live in community, do not veer from the path, and are quick to flee evil. They find peace on the mountain top. In the same way, we as people make our homes in the low places. We make them in the valleys and that is where growth happens, but it's also where the ick of life happens. We are made to live in community. We find purpose in the living with others. To have the feet like a deer is to stay on the path of the Lord and to flee evil and find peace on the mountain of the Lord. 

The Lord is my peace. Though my valley may make things hard to see, I know that up on the mountain the Lord sees and in his grace he raises me up to find peace and see things from his perspective. 
Jehovah Shalom.