March 10, 2022
Jehovah Shalom – He Who Gives Me Peace
My precious child, don’t you just love being at peace or being in a peaceful quiet place? A place where you can breathe deep and let it go completely trusting God. It is possible to live in a peaceful place all the time because Jehovah Shalom translated means ‘the Lord of Peace,’ is with us! Shalom in Hebrew means completeness, harmony, soundness, and the absence of strife. Jehovah conveys the thought of being and in English it is peace. Jehovah Shalom is one of many Old Testament names for God and was first used by Gideon when the angel of the Lord appeared to him at Ophrah.
The angel said, ‘Mighty hero, the Lord is with you!’ ‘Sir,’ Gideon replied, ‘if the Lord is with us, why has all this happened to us? And where are the miracles our ancestors told us about? Didn’t they say, ‘the Lord brought us out of Egypt?’ But now the Lord has abandoned us and handed us over to the Midianites.’ Then the Lord turned to him and said, ‘Go with the strength you have and rescue Israel from the Midianites. I am sending you!’ But Lord, Gideon replied, ‘How can I rescue Israel? ‘My clan is the weakest in the whole tribe of Manasseh, and I am the least in my entire family!’ (Judges 6:12-15 NIV) The Lord said to him, ‘I will be with you. And you will destroy the Midianites as if you were fighting against one man.’ Gideon replied, ‘if you are truly going to help me, show me a sign to prove that it is really the Lord speaking to me. (Judges 6:16-18 NIV) Have you ever asked God for a sign to confirm what He is asking you to do?
Gideon said, ‘Don’t go away until I come back and bring my offering to you.’ He answered, “I will stay here until you return.” Gideon hurried home to get his offering and present it to the angel of God who was under the tree. The angel of God told him where to place his offering, and Gideon did as he was told. Then the angel of the Lord touched the offering with the tip of the staff in his hand, and fire flamed up from the rock and consumed all he had brought. And the angel of the Lord disappeared. When Gideon realized that it was the angel of the Lord, he cried out, “Ah, Sovereign Lord, I’m doomed! I have seen the angel of the Lord face to face!” “It is all right,” the Lord replied. “Do not be afraid. You will not die.” Gideon built an altar to the Lord there and named it Yahweh-Shalom (which means “the Lord is peace”). The altar remains in Ophrah in the land of the clan of Abiezer to this day. (Judges 6:19-26 NIV) The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet. May the grace of our Lord Jesus be with you. (Romans 16:20 NLT) I ask Jehovah Shalom to release peace in your home, in your marriage, in your family, in your business, and on the job in Jesus’ holy name! Amen.
