The Biblical Way to Personal Peace

David and his men came back to the place of their dwelling which was Ziklag only to find that the Amalakites had burned their homes with fire and taken their families hostage (1Samuel 30:1). The bible says that the men began to weep until they had no more power to do so. Can you relate to this story through similar circumstances that you may have faced or may be facing at this moment? all of us will face problems, but can we face them with peace? In the above text David as well as his men were emotionally distraught, but David had peace within because he encouraged himself in the Lord while his men who had no peace blamed him and wanted to stone him.The absence of peace may cause a person to blame themselves or others for the problems that occur while true peace trusts God and his ability to work all things for good (Romans 8:28) You may ask how did David have peace when he wept just as hard as his men? but Peace does not negate the fact that we are human because being human means people cry , laugh, become angry, love, because of the emotions that we all have. Even Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus while knowing in advance that he was coming to raise him from the dead after 4 days (John 11). One important bit of information that we must not forget, we must look back at our past problems to see and be reminded of how God came through for us, because this is the foundation for future peace. David remembered how God had delivered him from the lion and bear as he was about to face one of the biggest challenges of his life, Goliath, so no doubt he reflected back during his present situation. I often wondered while reading this text why David did not immediately go after his family, because he took the time to ask for an ephod which was a priests garment and then he went in to ask God shall he go after his family. What!! if that was anyone of us today, we would file a missing persons report and create flyer’s to distribute, which is all necessary but we would do it all before talking to God which would be a mistake because pursuing after a problem without peace  only may make matters worse because of something we may do out of emotional stress. Second David had to make things right with the men who wanted to stone him. The bible says that as much as lieth within you to live peaceably with all men, and David was not at peace with his men, so he asks Abiathar the priest for an ephod to pray for his men who had wronged him. After this act he asks God shall I pursue? and Gods answer was pursue for surely thou shall recover all. My friend this is real personal peace, knowing that we have the God of the universe who never fails to work on our behalf to recover and fix whatever the problem is. David now pursues with peace because he sought Gods wisdom and found out what to do about the problem. Oh, by the way did I mention that in verse 9 of 1 Samuel 30 that David and his men pursued after the enemy to get their families back together? this would not have happened without peace within their relationship. They needed one another to take back what the enemy had stolen, their families. Could it be that someone we may be angry with has the answer we need to help us solve our problems? Many times God will place our deliverance in the hand of our enemy so that we can forgive and bring peace to the relationship. Another verse of scripture where this principle can be seen is in ( Job 42). God tells Job that he will not turn his captivity (fix his problem) until he prays for his friends. In studying the book of Job, his friends were a part of the problem, but he had to forgive them. We cannot stop problems from coming our way, but we can have personal peace in the midst of them trusting that God is going to work it all out.