Being a young person, especially in 2024, can be tough some days. Just turning on the news or talking about current world events with others triggers anxiety for me because the hopes and dreams I have don’t seem to fit in with the direction the world is moving towards. And that scares me because it feels like there’s so much of life that I have yet to live. I don’t know yet what it’s like to be working the dream job or to meet that special guy and date, get engaged, and get married, as well as the other major life stages every person hopes to live to.

It’s always fun when my friends and I daydream about our futures and where we’ll be in the next few years. We always say, “surely we’ll be at this milestone by this year.” That “surely” part of the daydream tends to make me feel uneasy because of the uncertainty behind my dreams. Being a type A, planner, detail-oriented girl, uncertainty is definitely something I’m okay with having less of in life. But Jesus called it. John 16:33 (TPT) quotes Jesus,

“For in this unbelieving world you will experience trouble and sorrows, but you must be courageous, for I have conquered the world!”

Jesus prefaced with this in the same verse,

“And everything I’ve taught you is so that the peace which is in me will be in you and will give you great confidence as you rest in me.”

I don’t want to go through each day feeling anxiety and weariness for what’s to come or for what may never come. There is no room to thrive and live in emotions like that. Jesus must be my Prince of Peace, not just as a lyric to a Christmas song, but as my firm foundation for every day of the year.

God promises us in Isaiah 54:10,

“‘For the mountains may depart and the hills be removed, but my steadfast love shall not depart from you, and my covenant of peace shall not be removed,’ says the Lord, who has compassion on you.”

Even when things in life that seem as certain as mountains shift and change, the Lord’s love remains steadfast and will never leave you. He stays in a covenant of peace with you that nothing in this world can ever break.

A few verses in Judges, chapter six, speak to recognizing the Lord as the only true source of peace.

22 “When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the LORD, he cried out, ‘Oh, Sovereign LORD, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the LORD face to face!’ 23 ‘It is all right,’ the LORD replied. ‘Do not be afraid. You will not die.’ 24 And Gideon built an altar to the LORD there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means ‘the LORD is peace’). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day.”

There were a couple of simple takeaways the Holy Spirit pointed out to me from these verses.

1. Gideon may have seemed a little extra, but he was direct and genuine. Get honest with the Lord. He can handle your honesty! Your emotions will not catch Him off guard.
2. The Lord brought Gideon back to reality and He spoke simple truths over Gideon. Don’t overcomplicate it when the Lord encourages you.
3. Give God the glory and remember His character and promises, even if the promise has not yet been fulfilled. Gideon glorified God and remembered His promise by building an altar to God.
4. The altar Gideon built remained for a long time, and who knows how many people encountered that spot and learned of what God did for Gideon? When God speaks to your fears and anxieties, the word He speaks over you will remain a testament for the rest of your life that will bear witness to others about God’s faithfulness.

God wants me to experience His perfect peace now, so I need to choose it even though the world around me is anything but peaceful. I don’t have to wait for the rest of the world to be peaceful before I can choose peace and experience it myself. Yahweh-Shalom means “the LORD is peace”. Don’t forget that!