Today the world is searching for “peace”—the absence of war and strife.

We do not know how the war in Ukraine will end, or whether Israel will go to a deeper war with its neighbors (and how that might affect gas prices). Will there be another World War? Closer to home, we see deep divisions and endless controversies and quarrels over everything. Yet, it was worse in the period leading up to the birth of Jesus, God’s promised Messiah. Within a generation, Israel had come under Roman occupation after suffering centuries of devastation and deportation by its bigger neighbors. Internal divisions even concerning the Temple led to civil war and continuous tensions. And this is when God fulfilled his promise of a savior.

God’s promise was a savior in the lowliest of places. See, peace from God is not absence of earthly chaos. It is calm within the turmoil, knowing that we belong to the one who was before time, the one who can sleep within the storm.

This is the peace the “world cannot give you,” as Jesus said. Heavenly peace means we can sing and praise God for a hope that is eternal. Sing to God’s faithfulness.