Strength and Peace

In Psalm 29:11 David says, “The Lord will give strength to His people; the Lord will bless His people with peace.” Two things are promised the people of God in this verse, strength and peace, and both are very much what people of God need.
We do need to note that these two things are promised specifically to those who are the people of God. We also need to note that it was God who made us to be His people. He called us through the means of grace, baptism and the Gospel. We did not choose to be His people, but He chose us. That we are His people we owe entirely to His grace.

If we now want to receive the gifts of God, strength and peace, then it will be necessary for us to keep on being His people. That can happen only one way according to Jesus Himself: “If you continue in my word, then you are my disciples, and you shall know the truth and the truth shall set you free.” The disciples of Jesus are God’s people, and they are free.

Peace

They now receive the gift of peace from the Lord. This is the gift that is theirs through Christ’s suffering, death, and resurrection. That peace that the Father gives us assures us of forgiveness for all our sins, and it satisfies the demands of our conscience. It provides us with the certainty of life eternal.

Peace Brings Strength

With the gift of peace God gives us the strength now to live for Him. He provides us with the power to carry out His directive of bringing peace to the nations of this world, the peace that tells them of the God who has reconciled the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses or sins against them. God gives us the power and the will to go out with the Gospel tidings of peace and forgiveness. He supplies us with the energy to carry out the great commission.

What a blessed thing it is to be the people of God! What a joy it should be to us to support the work of the Lord, also in the special effort of our new office project. With our words let us do what we can to stir up enthusiasm for God’s work, and with our gifts let us support it, and above all with our prayers let us ask the Lord’s blessing upon it. May the Lord give us strength and peace to serve Him with all our heart, mind, and soul.

Amen.