Day by Day with Martin Luther

Read: Ezra 2 Hebrews 13:17-24

“The Peace that Comes from God”

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”
[Philippians 4:4-7]

This peace of God is not to be understood as that peace in which God is quiet and content with Himself, but rather as that peace which He puts into our hearts so that we are content … reason knows no peace except that which comes when evil ceases … but those who rejoice in God are satisfied that they have peace with God. They remain bold in affliction, do not desire the peace that reason chooses, namely, the cessation of evil?

Rather, they stand firm and await inner strength through faith. They do not ask whether the evil will be and remain short or long, temporal or eternal – they also do not think or care how it will end – but they let God be in charge. This is the peace of the cross, the peace of God, the peace of conscience, Christian peace, which makes a person outwardly calm, satisfied with everyone, and upset about no one. It is the work of God, with which no one is familiar except the person who has experienced it.