Peace is something that is sought out by most people daily. It is not an exaggeration to say that every person in the world is looking for peace; we all are just looking in different places. Some look for peace in admiration or fame while others look for peace in alcohol, drugs, or even a career.
Some people don’t even seem to be looking for peace. They seem to thrive on chaos, so they disrupt relationships and sabotage others, preventing themselves and those people from experiencing peace. No matter where you fall in whether you truly search for peace or where you seek to find it, you need to know one truth: You can only find true peace with yourself and with others in God alone.
To find out how you can find peace in God, let’s take a look at some Bible stories about finding peace and making peace with others to see how we can learn from the amazing people found in God’s word.
Bible Stories About Finding Peace in Difficult Situations
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego
One of the reasons that we are often looking for peace is because our circumstances and the situations that we find ourselves in are often anything but peaceful. We are shaken by the waves of life, so we search for somewhere that we can just breathe and find peace in the midst of the chaos.
The story of Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego in the Old Testament is one that stands above the rest as a story about finding peace even in the most difficult circumstances by remembering God’s power and His promises.
If you aren’t familiar with their story from the word of God, they were living in the province of Babylon during the Israelite’s exile under the rule of a king named Nebuchadnezzar. You can find this story in Daniel 3. The passage tells us that at a time, King Nebuchadnezzar decided to build an image of gold that was to be worshiped by the people.
He decreed that at the sound of various instruments, the people were to fall down and worship the golden image that he had set up. He also decreed that whoever disobeyed this order would be thrown into a burning fiery furnace.
Sometime after this decree was made, 3 Jews were brought to him, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who were accused of not falling down and worshiping the idol when they were supposed to.
Nebuchadnezzar graciously gives them another chance to redeem themselves and worship the idol while threatening them with the furnace, but they respond in a way that shows the peace they have found in God. They say:
“If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king. But if not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the golden image that you have set up.” [Daniel 3:17-18, ESV]
Even in the face of fiery death, these three men found the peace of God in the fact that they knew the God of hope could save them and they even had peace with God’s plan by the power of the Holy Spirit should He choose not to save them. Isn’t that amazing? Imagine if you had this much confidence in God within your own situations and circumstances.
If you need God’s peace in your own life, find it in the fact that God is good, God is sovereign, and you can place your trust in Him for great peace by the fruit of the Spirit, even if things don’t work out the way you’d like them to.
Paul
Paul was one of the most amazing people that we are told about in the New Testament. His story of going from a Christian-killing Pharisee to becoming one of the greatest missionaries of all time for the Gospel is truly a great one. However, he certainly encountered difficult and tough circumstances as he sought to further the Gospel around the world in his time on earth.
In 2 Corinthians 11, Paul makes a list of the things that he has faced during his journeys as a missionary for Christ and the kingdom of God. This list includes quite a variety of sufferings, including being beaten with rods, being shipwrecked multiple times, being in relentless danger from many people groups who wanted him dead, and being imprisoned countless times.
During some of these imprisonments, he would write letters to various churches that he had relationships with, encouraging them in the faith and also asking for prayer for his circumstances. However, he always had peace of mind, even when he was imprisoned, that God was using such things for the sake of the good news.
He knew that God had a plan and that his sufferings were for the Lord Jesus Christ, our Lord of Peace.
His secret to the source of peace that he has is found in Philippians 4 in a passage that many of us have heard but may not know the true meaning of. He writes:
“Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me.” [Philippians 4:11-13, ESV]
Paul’s secret was that he realized he could get through any situation, no matter how difficult, because he could find perfect peace and strength in the fact that Jesus was with him and was providing him with strength.
Even when our situations are terrible, we too can find peace in our Savior, Christ Jesus, the prince of peace, and feel safe in the fact that we can do all things through him in the good days and the bad. As God’s people, we can let the peace of Christ rule in our own hearts in the presence of God, even in hard times.
Bible Stories About Peacemakers
Abigail, David, and Nabal
Although it’s important that we find inner peace ourselves, it’s also very clear in the Holy Bible that it is important for us as children of God to have peace with other people. For example, in Jesus’ famous sermon on the Beatitudes in Matthew 5, he says:
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God.” [Matthew 5:9, ESV]
Likewise, Paul says in Romans:
“If possible, so far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.” [Romans 12:18, ESV]
Clearly, we are called to be peacemakers when it comes to finding peace with others. A great example of being a peacemaker is found in the story of Abigail, David, and Nabal in 1 Samuel 25.
To set the scene, David is in the middle of his conflict with Saul since David is God’s appointed king, but Saul is still the people’s king. He and his men have been encamped in the land of a man named Nabal and so far have been very kind and respectful towards Nabal and his men.
To David, this means that he should be able to ask a favor from Nabal in return for his kindness, so he sends some men to make a request of Nabal. However, Nabal publicly insults David by denying even knowing him and belittling him and his men.
When David hears of this, he arrogantly tells all of his men to strap on their swords to go and kill Nabal and all of his men. Luckily, we are told that Nabal’s wife, Abigail, is very wise, and she steps into the situation to be the peacemaker that is needed. She steps in, diffuses the situation, and all is well in the end.
This story of Abigail shows us that sometimes, we are called to not only make peace with others in our own relationships but to also make peace in the relationships of those close to us, especially within the body of Christ. We can be the peacemakers that others need and we should do our best to make biblical peace where we can with God’s help and wisdom.
Esau and Jacob
The Bible story of Esau and Jacob is quite a wild one. Even before birth, it was foretold to their mother concerning these two brothers:
“Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you shall be divided; the one shall be stronger than the other, the older shall serve the younger.” [Genesis 25:23, ESV]
As they grew older, this prophecy rang truer than ever. There was a lot of conflict between these brothers, starting with the moment that Esau (the older brother) sold his birthright to his brother Jacob for food as he was on the edge of starving to death. Instead of just giving his brother some food to save his life, Jacob scammed Esau out of his birthright for personal gain.
To make matters worse, when it came to their father, Isaac, actually bestowing the birthright, Jacob devised a plan to deceive Isaac, who had become blind, into believing that he was Esau so that Isaac would indeed give him the birthright that should have gone to his brother.
Needless to say, their relationship was quite rocky at this point. Funny enough, Jacob then goes on his own journey and gets scammed quite a few times, but a while down the road, the two brothers end up meeting again. However, at this point, Esau has amassed himself quite the nation for himself and Jacob finds out that Esau is coming to him with four hundred men.
Naturally, Jacob assumes that this means Esau is coming to take his revenge, but instead, Esau greets his brother with love, running to meet him and embrace him, and he accepts them peacefully and lovingly.
Even though Jacob had done horrible things to Esau, Esau forgave Jacob and instead made peace with him. This is such an amazing example for us to behold today as we all have people in our lives that have done wrong things to us. Many of us don’t have peace in those relationships, but God calls us to make peace and forgive them despite what they’ve done.
As far as it depends on you, make real peace within your relationships, and God will bless them and you through the peace that you find.