Philippians 4:7 And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. The peace, the harmony of soul, the repose and concord of the whole man, which is God's gift, the effect of God's own presence by His Holy Spirit, shall keep you as in a fortified place from all danger, from all the crafts and assaults of evil. What is it which exposes us to our worst perils? Is it not a roving heart? A heart seeking rest and finding none? It is not the unsatisfied insatiable thirst which is in us all by nature, for a happiness which yet earth cannot give. That is what makes a man a pleasure hunter, an idolater of the world, the slave of his evil passions and sinful lusts. That is the bait which the devil presents to the fallen Adam: and if it succeeded even with the unfallen and upright, who shall wonder if it succeeds with him? Let a man have found peace in God, let him have tasted of that water after drinking of which none thirsts again for any other, and he has a safeguard against evil. Why should he go after that which cannot profit or satisfy when he has within him a spring of living water. That is the sense in which Paul writes that the peace of God shall guard our hearts and our thoughts, i.e., the seat of thought, and the workings of thought. There will be no roving desires there to go abroad from the camp and fall into the enemy's ambush. And there will be no traitor there to open the gate of the citadel to some disguised foe. The heart that has found peace in God, is kept as in a sure fortress by that peace itself. It is built as a city that is at unity in itself (Proverbs 18:10; Psalm 122:3, Psalm 13:5). It is all at one. It is not divided between this and that; it is not, like the heart of nature, a fighting ground of conflicting parties; it is in safe keeping under an almighty hand. (Dean Vaughan.) Parallel Verses KJV: And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. |
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