The Path of Peace

 

Daily Gratitude Year 12 - Day 354: Today, I am grateful for the way of peace.

The phrase "don't upset the apple cart" is to change people's plans or expectations in a way that they don't expect and don't appreciate. Thus was the situation for those who would not or could not see the Messiah being born in a stable unfit for a king. 

Unfit or the perfect fit? 

God's ways often include a pause. A waiting space in an unusual place is often part of His plan. His ways are not our ways.  He is predictably unpredictable. 

Zechariah's prophecy came when Mary was with him (and Elizabeth). His state of muteness was lifted and the prophecy came. 

"You will tell his people how to find salvation through forgiveness of their sins. Because of God’s tender mercy, the morning light from heaven is about to break upon us, to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, and to guide us to the path of peace.” -Luke 1:77-79

The "Morning Light"... the "Dayspring"... the "Dawn"... or "the Light from Heaven" are one and the same. Finally, the Hope of the World had arrived. His first earthly heartbeat was in the womb. His first human breath was in a stable. 

"He humbled himself in obedience to God..." -Philippians 2:8  

It was the way of the manger before it was the way of the cross.  

Going back to the Hebrew and Greek (with the assistance of Strong's and Thayer's Greek Lexicon), there is a conception distinctly peculiar to Christianity: "the tranquil state of a soul assured of its salvation through Christ, and so fearing nothing from God and content with its earthly lot, of whatsoever sort that is." Blessed assurance! 

It is "the path of" or "the way of peace."  The way of peace is the absolute knowledge that nothing this life brings can separate us from the love of God. 

Today, I am grateful for the way of peace.