“Peace in the Valley”...the Wayfarer 2/5/14

“Peace in the Valley”
2/5/14

“The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them.”

(Isaiah 11:6)

“The wolf and lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent’s meat. They shall not destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the Lord.”

(Isaiah 65:25)

Once again the warm fuzzy of song washed over my soul as I chose the title for today’s dissertation.

The old gospel song, performed by many over the years, holds special provenance in my life, and calls to memory the many times I heard it in the home of my grandparents and my parents, in churches attended, in places of gathering amid other secular offerings where it dwarfed and made those other songs impertinent at the time.

Peace is something we search for in our lives continually. We seek peace between nations, peace with the people around and among us, peace of mind, peace of body, and most importantly peace of mind and soul.

That peace is often a fleeting thing that is overwhelmed and overthrown by events, and frustrations that plague us.

As with all things, Ecclesiastes tells us that there is a time for peace, but that there is also a time for war.

To attain that peace that is sought, we must first go through that time of war.

That too comes in many forms in our lives. There always seems to have been, and certainly in the duration of my life has constantly been, wars between nations for many reasons. 


There is another form of war that takes place daily, and will do so until that final peace is attained, that rages within the minds, bodies and souls of men…all men!

That war is the war created by the desires and wants of the flesh, and the needs of the soul.

James had a bit to say on the subject:

“From whence come wars and fightings among you? Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?

Ye lust, and have not: ye kill and desire to have, and cannot obtain: ye fight and war, yet ye have not, because ye ask not.

Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may
 consume it upon your lusts.”

(James 4:1-3)

The source of all wars is from within the hearts of men wherein abide the things Jesus warned us about.

Nations war over possessions that each would claim, pieces of land and sea that in all reality belong only to God himself. They war over political ideology that is often a disguise for some wealth possessed by those holding a different ideology.

Reasons given for going into those wars are given to the people who must eventually give of their blood in support of that war, that are often heavily veiled lies for the reason given behind them.

The majority of the wars that have been fought through the centuries, were, and are for things, not for the concepts of freedom, equality and rights that are touted as the reasoning behind the expenditure of youth and treasure that disguise the true reason of those seeking further worldly gain through those wars.

There is a war that is raging now, perhaps initiated with that gain in mind, but that has taken a far different turn for the very souls of those involved.

The battles of that war are being fought on battlefields in many lands, openly for all to see the evil of those wars. Yet few recognize the other battle going on that would eradicate Christianity both in those lands and everywhere else it may be found.

Those battles rage on battlefields in those places, martyring many, in an open display of the true nature of that war, but also rage in far more insidious places as well, on the streets of the nations involved in the effort to preserve and protect our faith, in the courtrooms of the nation that are slowly and inexorably chipping away at the very right to hold and promote that faith, in the communities where apathy takes hold relegating action to anyone but “me” as the norm. Even some of our churches preach tolerance and equality of those who desire neither of the above, but instead desire to supplant and eradicate that very faith.

This war is being fought with the leadership that was entrusted to defend those rights at the forefront of those attempting to destroy that right while mouthing the same phrases about equality and tolerance to include the superiority of the laws of others above even that which is supposed to be, and has been supreme in our land from its founding, through the constitution that delineates what our principles and rights consist of.

Jesus told us that he was not come to bring peace, but a sword, and went on to tell of the divisions that were coming, that now should be apparent to the most uniformed, and even the most apathetic among us.

Yes, I dream of that peace in the valley that is promised, I long for it with all my heart, mind, and soul. 

I have the surety and certainty that it is to be had, and, will be had.

I look forward to the day when “the beast from the wild will be led by a child, and the lion will lie down with the lamb.”


  I look forward to the day where the lamb is the light, and that time that I will be changed from this creature that I am, to that far better and perfect creature intended by God during creation.

I am also the realist, and know that to get to that day will require endurance and faith, and that time of war that is upon us that also requires that peace be foregone in pursuit of being the warriors required during that time of war.

It has been said, and is most true, that no one prays harder, or more, for peace,  than the soldier who bears the burdens of fighting that war.

If we are to find that peace, the soldiers must be willing to make the sacrifices necessary to attain that peace, and follow the leadership and guidance given us by Christ.


 They must refuse to accept leadership that does not recognize those teachings, and must also recognize those claiming to be soldiers, who accept the teachings given them by that false leadership in charge politically, for the deserters, traitors and spies that they really are. 


They must call them out and expose them, cut out the rot that they cause to those who are still good fruit, and worthy of the title of soldier, and wear it proudly despite the wounds and scars incurred by choosing to be that soldier.

It is time to open our eyes and ears and see and hear what is going on about us, and take a stand for Christ in a world that denies him.

There will be peace in the valley, and on God’s holy mountain as well, but only after all the battles are fought and the war is won.

We are given the surety of the outcome of that war… we are warned also of the trials and tribulation to come during those battles as they are being fought.

Until the time we are taken from the field of battle by our Commander, not in chief, but in totality, leader not in title, but KING in both how we conduct that battle, and the only true leadership to be followed into that battle, we are called, and sworn, to serve, sacrifice, promote, uphold and defend all of the teachings, commandments and laws, not of society or mankind, but those given by God and His Son.

I call on all who profess to be those soldiers, what they must be if they deserve the title of Christian, to remember the message left us by Jesus:

“Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand!”

With that message foremost in mind I call you into the battle for the souls of those that you profess to love!

I would draft, and press you into the service required of you, if you would be that Christian, in fact, as well as in word, and lip service,  and urge you to follow the command that it must be followed with deed as well.

I close in prayer that you respond to that call that comes not from me, but MY commander to whom I must give account of my own actions on this field of battle, and be who you say you are, stand up for what you say you believe, rebuke and reproach any and all who teach other than what is given us by that Commander.

As for me, I remain, yet and still, only that which I am, that same simple sinner that God had the mercy to save by His grace through faith in His Son Jesus, and also yet, still, and always until the last battle I fight on this earth, the soldier HE drafted into His service so long ago, despite all unworthiness, in the knowledge that I will be worthy after undergoing the change spoken of in that song that provides that warm fuzzy to this old preacher, who is fully in the expectation and complete confidence that, that change is happening partially as I meet the requirements of battle, and will be completed at the end of my fight.

2 Timothy 1:12 King James Version (KJV)

¹² For the which cause I also suffer these things: nevertheless I am not ashamed: for I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day.

Amen and Amen.
the Wayfarer