Consolation Series - Part 15 - The Peace of God

Answer me when I call, God of my righteousness.
Give me relief from my distress.
Have mercy on me, and hear my prayer.
Yahweh will hear when I call to him.
Stand in awe, and don’t sin.
Search your own heart on your bed, and be still.
Offer the sacrifices of righteousness.
Put your trust in Yahweh.
Many say, “Who will show us any good?”
Yahweh, let the light of your face shine on us.
You have put gladness in my heart,
more than when their grain and their new wine are increased.
In peace, I will both lay myself down and sleep,
for you, Yahweh alone, make me live in safety.

Psalm 4:1,3-8

The psalmist invites us to “stand in awe” of God – to rest in the knowledge that He who laid the foundation of the earth is with us and hears us every moment of the day and the darkest hours of the night.  We don’t have to make any pilgrimage or undertake any deprivation to feel God’s gaze, we need only search our own hearts and be still.   For the psalmist, knowing that God loves him provides what Paul called, “the peace of God that surpasses all understanding.”