HAVE YOU EVER NEEDED help restoring order in the face of chaos, ever felt overwhelmed by demands beyond your capacity to cope, or ever craved for "Peace, peace, when there is no peace?" (Jer. 8:11). In a hectic world of rush-rush planning and hyperspeed movement, calm and order may seem elusive and impossible at times. We may even throw up our hands and cry, "I can't do this anymore!" But we don't have to give in to hopelessness when the going gets tough. We're never alone. God's healing power is always with us, always able to restore order and maintain peace. And to see how that's demonstrably true, we can look to the life and teachings of Jesus Christ.
The Old Testament prophet Isaiah wrote, "Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given: and the government shall be upon his shoulder: and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, The mighty God, The everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace" (Isa. 9:6). As the prophesied Prince of Peace, when Jesus grew into manhood, he demonstrated the immediacy of God's healing power in his swift and conclusive destruction of sin, disease, and even death. He restored peace, health, and wholeness to multitudes of suffering people through his understanding of God's power. He overcame all forms of evil in his own experience. And he promised that we could find peace and healing in the face of discord too, if we believed him—believed his teachings (see John 14:12).
I recall an experience when I was desperate for this peace that Jesus promised. At the time, I was overwrought with exhaustion. My mind was whirring like a Category Five hurricane, and I was unable to wind down. I needed to rest before an upcoming major presentation. I had been praying for relief, but the tension and pressure only intensified. Overwrought with desperation, I decided to seek help outside of myself because my efforts to quiet the turbulence in my thinking were not working. I looked to the Prince of Peace for guidance, and remembered Jesus' words, "I can of mine own self do nothing" (John 5:30). I realized that I didn't have to figure all of this out on my own. Just as Jesus trusted God to care for him, I could trust God's care for me. I ceded control to the divine and pleaded, "God, I give up. I'm yours! Order my thoughts and bring me calm." In a few moments, the mental storm ceased, my body relaxed, and I fell asleep. What I had been unable to do humanly, God was able to accomplish spiritually. Thanks to the example of relinquishing self-will that I had found in Jesus' words, I was able to pray more effectively. And I found rest.
