Thought from today’s Bible reading from Psalm 56, 120, 140-142.
“Too long has my soul had its dwelling with those who hate peace. I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war” (Psalm 120:6-7).
The Scriptures say there is “a time for war and a time for peace” (Ecclesiastes 3:8). Neither one can be wholly eliminated, either in the context of affairs between nations or in our spiritual lives. There are times when wars must be waged and other times when peace must be pursued.
However, David found himself among those who hated peace. They knew war. They practiced war. War was all they were interested in. Peace was not to be preferred in any circumstance. When David spoke of peace, their response was one of war.
We can make a spiritual application from this. Who are those who hate peace? They are those who are contentious, argumentative, and always sowing the seeds of discord among brethren.
We certainly must be willing to “contend earnestly for the faith” (Jude 3), destroy “speculations and every lofty thing raised up against the knowledge of God” (2 Corinthians 10:5), and have no fellowship with “the unfruitful deeds of darkness” (Ephesians 5:11); but this is a far cry from hating peace.
Rather than being contentious, argumentative, and causing discord, we should “pursue the things which make for peace” (Romans 14:19). Unless establishing or maintaining peace would require us to compromise the truth, then peace is what we ought to pursue.
This may make us the source of attack for those who hate peace. But our goal is to please God, not man (Galatians 1:10).
Tomorrow’s reading: 1 Samuel 25-27
[I’m using the Chronological reading plan on the Bible Gateway website if you’d like to follow along, too.]
Daily Notes & Observations contains all 365 articles from this series and is available in paperback from Gospel Armory.
