Jesus, You Alone

Scotty Smith:  A Prayer When Your Heart Is Aching for Peace

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!” Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace.” Luke 19:38–42

Jesus, the ache within our hearts for peace is unrelenting and unremitting. Let me get specific: the ache within my heart for peace is ramped up to a 9.1 on a scale of 1 to 10. Though nothing can disrupt the peace I have that comes from resting in you-plus-nothing for my justification, there are circumstances and stories afoot which are unsettling and peace-robbing. At times like this, I can get sucker punched into thinking peace can be found in something or someone else than you.

I’m quite capable of acting like Esau. My peace-pangs take over, and in the moment, I’ll gladly settle for a bowl of hot porridge over the hope of a future banquet. The provision of a snack-in-hand blinds my eye, deafens my ear, and dulls my taste buds to the sumptuous fare of the wedding feast of the Lamb—the day when my longing and demanding heart will be fully set free to delight in you.
“Maranatha!” Even so, Lord Jesus, come . . . hasten that day!

Jesus, I can also get lost in the world of “if only.” If only there were no tensions in any of my relationships (an entirely unrealistic notion), I’d be a happy man. If only “such and such” hadn’t happened (even though I know you are sovereign over all things), everything would be great. If only I lived somewhere else, was twenty years younger, had a different family of origin, had more money, had fewer hassles, had never been deeply wounded. . . if only. The list grows as I fix my eyes on my navel and not on you, Lord Jesus.

But right now I hear you saying to me, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace” (Luke 19:42). Indeed, Jesus, you alone, this day and every day, are the Prince of Peace. I don’t need less storms, I just need to see more of you in the storms. Only in union with you—only in vital communion with you do we find the true and sufficient peace for which we long.

Right now, I join the chorus of those who cry out, “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” (Luke 19:38), for you, Jesus, are the king of glory and grace. Until the day of consummate peace, continue to free me from the illusion and delusion that sufficient peace can be found anywhere else but in you. Corral my running-wild thoughts; calm my restless heart; “shalom” my fretful imagination. So very Amen I pray in your merciful and mighty name.