God wants you to experience peace. A deep, settled peace. An unexplainable peace. A continual peace that is experienced every day. A peace that is felt all the way to heaven. That peace can only be delivered by Yahweh Shalom. Let me set the context for today’s passage.

Israel’s enemy had overpowered them and devoured their crops. A man named Gideon was hiding when God appeared and commissioned him to save Israel, promising a sure victory. After hearing this news, Gideon exclaimed,

 Judges 6.22-24
…“Alas, O Lord God! For now, I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face.” But the Lord said to him, “Peace be to you. Do not fear; you shall not die.” Then Gideon built an altar there to the Lord and called it, The Lord Is Peace….

The Hebrew word shalom is translated to the English word “peace” but carries a deeper and broader meaning. Shalom means “wholeness” and “completeness.” Author Cornelius Plantinga explains, “In the Bible, shalom means universal flourishing, wholeness, and delight—a rich state of affairs in which natural needs are satisfied and natural gifts fruitfully employed…. Shalom, in other words, is the way things ought to be.”

Yahweh Shalom restores things to the way they ought to be. He is the Lord of completeness and wholeness, a God who brings delight to our souls. Your sin separates you from God. But there is good news; it is the gospel of peace (Ephesians 6:15). Yahweh Shalom sent his Son, Jesus Christ, to provide everlasting peace through his blood, shed on the cross (Colossians 1:20). And he gave his Holy Spirit who “is life and peace” (Romans 8:6). God wants your life to be encircled by his peace. He is Yahweh Shalom.

Yahweh Shalom,
Thank you for giving me peace through Jesus. Thank you for giving me the Holy Spirit, who settles my heart and mind with peace. Help me live a life that is complete and whole in you. Help me to live with your shalom. In Jesus’ name. Amen.