Psalm 29:11b “The Lord blesses his people with peace.”

Whatever comes to us from God’s hand comes to us as a blessing. God’s blessing means that he has only good intentions for us. What he gives his people, the people he loves and saves, never comes as a curse. But you know that his blessings are often blessings in disguise.

Sometimes you and I can take the mask off of these blessings in disguise and see them as they really are. But not all God’s blessings give up their masks easily. We may not be able to see them this side of heaven. Whether we can see them or not, we continue to have the blessing David promises here, “The Lord blesses his people with peace.” Peace isn’t the same thing as a trouble free life. Peace means that God has made me whole. My situation is as it should be. The Bible way of thinking about this goes something like this:

First, the Lord has given me peace with him, peace because my sins have been forgiven and not a single one of them will be held against me. Peace with God means that he is my friend, not my enemy, that he is on my side, not against me.

Second, if there is peace between me and God, and the Lord is on my side, then he is directing my world and my life to my advantage. It is true that the Lord and I don’t always see eye to eye on what might be to my advantage. But he always has the superior view of what serves me, because all too often I don’t see past the needs of my body, and he is always looking out for the needs of my soul. So long as I realize that God is on my side, and my soul is taken care of, I have peace.

Take this peace, and apply it to your life ahead of you. In every task, every challenge, every battle that lies ahead, the Lord promise to bless you, not to hurt you; to be on your side working for you as your friend. That gives us peace in the middle of every task, challenge, or battle, too. And that peace gives us confidence to face whatever the future holds.

Christian life is a little like living the lead role in an adventure movie. If the hero wasn’t constantly in danger, dodging swords or bullets, narrowly escaping storms or floods, collapsing buildings or hungry packs of wolves, there wouldn’t be a story. From the seats in the theater it all looks entertaining and exciting. Lived in real life there is cold and sweat and pain. But somehow you know the hero wins in the end.

You are the hero in the story of your life that God is writing for you. After the cold and the sweat and the pain, you are going to win, not because of your own ingenuity and resourcefulness, but because the Lord gives strength to his people, and the Lord blesses his people with peace.