‘the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace’. – Number 6:26
What does the Lord promise you as He looks at you? We read in today’s verse that he promises Peace!
This is a word to centre you. He is not looking at you in judgement. He does not need your best efforts. The Lord is committed to surrounding every aspect in your life with peace.
In the Old Testament, the Hebrew word for peace is “shalom,” and in the New Testament, the Greek word is “eirene.” The most basic meaning of shalom is complete or whole. In Joshua 8:31, the people refer back to Moses’ commands to create an altar of stone that was whole and without cracks with which to make their peace offerings to YAHWEH. So the word here can refer to a stone that is a perfectly whole shape, with no cracks. It can also mean a completed stone wall that has no gaps and no missing bricks. Shalom refers to something that’s complex with lots of pieces that’s in a state of completeness, wholeness. It’s like Job in 5:24.who says his tents are in a state of shalom because he counted his flock and no animals are missing. This is why shalom can refer to our well-being. Like when David in 1st Sam 17 when he visited his brothers on the battlefield, he asked about their shalom. The main idea is that life is complex, lots of moving parts, external circumstances, challenges and relationships. When any of these is out of alignment or missing, your shalom breaks down. Life is no longer whole; it needs to be restored.
In fact, that’s the basic meaning of shalom when you use it as a verb. To bring shalom literally means to make complete or restore. So Solomon in 1 King 9:25. brings shalom to the unfinished temple when he completes it. The same goes for human relationships. In the book of Proverbs, 16:7, to reconcile and heal a broken relationship is to bring shalom. And when rival kingdoms make shalom in the Bible, it doesn’t just mean they stop fighting; it also means they start working together for each other’s benefit. The prophet Isaiah chapter 9:5-6. he looked forward to a future king, a prince of shalom. And his reign would bring shalom with no end – a time when God would make a covenant of shalom with his people and make right all wrongs and heal all that’s been broken.
That is your covenant right now. As you are reading this right now the Lord’s face is shining on you and He is giving you His Peace. This is peace from the storm that feels like it is about to overwhelm you. Every minute waking or sleeping. Every day. Every area. He is bringing Shalom to you as you take your eyes off the temporal and fix your eyes on His eternal promises. A word study in the New King James version for SHALOM says: ‘Completeness, wholeness, health, peace, welfare, safety, soundness, tranquility, prosperity, perfectness, fullness, rest, harmony, the absence of agitation or discord’.
Let me finish with the words of Jesus in John 14 v 27 - “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid”.
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Unshakeable Hope Series – Exchange Church Belfast 2021