Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid. John 14:27
When our oldest son was in Jr. High, my dad asked if he could go to the farm and work with him for the summer. Our son was so excited to get the opportunity to spend time with Pa. Pa came out every morning and picked him up to go to work and then he would bring him home when the day was finished. After working with my dad for two or three weeks, Jerad came home and announced that he wanted to own a horse. I thought carefully about the answer and I told him if he would save half the money needed, I would match it and he could buy a horse. Part of me was not sure he was serious and the other part of me wanted to teach him a money lesson in saving. The next week he came home and said he found a horse, Lightening, and he had half the money saved to purchase him. Lightening belonged to friends of ours and he was a very gentle horse, in fact when they worked cattle, they would put their toddler on him because he was so solid. I kept my promise and gave him my half of the bargain and we became official horse owners. Neither one of us was raised around horses and we had a lot to learn (and I still do). Horses stomachs are a little fickle and if they get a stomach ache it can cause them to colic. If the colic gets severe enough, they will lay on the ground and roll around on its back to get some relief. Once a horse experiences this much pain, they may struggle to get back up. They can even lay there and die. One afternoon, I left work and headed down 1585 to get to the school to pick our youngest children up from school and when I drove by the house, I noticed Lightening was coliccing on the ground. I called my mom to do the school run so I could try to get Lightening back up. Being inexperienced, I was not sure how to help him, but I knew he had to get up to have a chance of survival. I worked for over 30 minutes doing everything I could think of to get the horse back on his feet with no success. His breathing became more and more shallow and I knew I was about to lose him. I finally called the vet in town and asked if they could at least come out and put him down and they said to just let him lie there and die. We use the vet in Brownfield also, so I called to see if they could help. The Vet Tech encouraged me to keep working on getting him up and told me the Vet was a few miles away working on some show pigs and to call back if I had problems and he would let the vet know. I knew if I could just get the horse on his feet, we had a good chance of saving him. Our neighbors at the time were an elderly precious couple and I called for advice. They came down and he told me what I needed to do to put a harness on the horse so I could get the horse up. Withing just a few minutes after getting the harness on, I had Lightening up and walking, trying to get rid of the colic. I was so frantic and stressed over seeing the horse down I could barely see straight much less bring peace to the situation. I was out in the barn and stood prinking with God later and I felt like He told me “You cannot give something you do not have.” I have thought about the conversation I had with the Lord that day on many occasions. I know He was teaching me to trust Him instead of looking at the circumstances. When I do not have the peace in myself to bring to an emergency, I can lean into His peace to have something to offer to those around me. How often do we walk around depleted and have nothing to bring to the table, nothing to give to our families or the hurting? One of the things that Jesus did so very well, He saw people, really saw them, saw where they were coming from, the needs they had and they emotions that needed to be healed and reassured. Not only did He identify their need, He also had the solution to meet their needs.
In John 14, Jesus saw into the future and knew that His hour was fast approaching, so He gave the disciples the peace and encouragement they would need to survive the days that surrounded His crucifixion. In the middle of the most difficult time Jesus would ever face, He had something to give His disciples. “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid” In fact that was Jesus “MO”, He saw people and met the needs they had. When He met the woman at the well, He promised to give her living water that would even meet the thirst she had for love and acceptance. After one encounter with Jesus, she put her sinful life behind her and she became the first evangelist, telling all Samaria about the Savior who had living water to drink. For the hungry five thousand men and their families, He abundantly blessed a small boy’s lunch, fed the multitude, and even had 12 baskets of left overs. When Jesus came upon the ten lepers, He did not hide behind the law to gave Him the answer to having eternal life. When He passed the funeral procession of the widow who had jus t lost her only son, He spoke healing and brought the boy back to life. To the woman caught in adultery, He gave her forgiveness and spared her life. He even told Peter where to get the money to pay his taxes. To Lazarus, He became the resurrection.
I believe He gave an open invitation that is still good for us today in Matthew 11:28 “Come to Me, all you who labor ad are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” He is all-sufficient and there is nothing that you need that He cannot provide. In fact, Psalm 84:11 “For the Lord is a sun and shield; The Lord will give grace and glory; No good thing will He withhold from those who walk uprightly.” At some point in your life, people will not have everything that you need for the struggles you are facing. We are invited by the God of this universe to come to Him and allow Him to give us rest. That does not apply to physical rest only. He can give us rest from mental exhaustion, family turmoil, physical problems, financial issues, and anything else the enemy throws your way. God is big enough and sufficient to meet all your needs. Paul was so confident of His sufficiency that he told the Philippian church in Philippians 4:19 “And my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.” Not only does He give us rest, He will meet all our need. I do not know what is causing you pain or concern, But I know A God who knows all and is willing to intervene on your behalf, if you will take Him up on His offer to “Come unto Me.”
Maybe you are one of the fortunate ones who has a life free from struggles now. If so let me encourage you to take Jesus up on His offer in Matthew 4:19 “Come, follow me ad I will make you fishers of men.” If we are going to follow Christ and win souls for the kingdom, we have to have something to give the hurting. It is o important to sped time in prayer and meditation and time n the word. Each day we should ask God what He has in store for us, and listen for His voice to know what the people we pass everyday have need of. Just like the Lord told me when the horse went down, I could not give something I do not have. Lean into God and let Him be your source and allow the Holy Spirit to keep your full. David said in Psalm 23 “My cup runs over.” If we allow the Holy Spirit to fill our cup daily then there should be an overflow that will spill on everyone, we come in contact with. Isn’t it amazing that our provision will never end.
Cathy Nesmith