I had the opportunity in 1973 to visit the Holy Land. When our plane landed at the Tel Aviv airport an Israeli song was playing over the plane’s speakers containing the word shalom. It is a word that appears often in the Bible.

Shalom is often translated “peace,” but it means far more than the kind of peace often described as the absence of violence or war. It embodies an inner peace that brings wholeness, unity, and balance to an individual’s life. It describes a harmonious, nurturing environment that has God at its center.

The creation story in the book of Genesis tells us that God brought order and harmony out of chaos. In other words, He created shalom. Disobedience on the part of Adam and Eve destroyed shalom.

However, it has always been God’s plan that it be restored — first in human hearts, and flowing out from that, into all human relationships. Obviously that has not yet happened universally in our world.

Throughout human history nations have fought wars with one another, often for the flimsiest of reasons. There have been more years when wars were being fought than when they were not being fought.

Threatening clouds of war seem always to be on the world’s horizon. In the book of Revelation we are told that the Prince of Peace will one day rule over a new heaven and a new earth. At that time, according to the prophet Isaiah, justice, righteousness, and peace, or shalom, will characterize His unending reign.

God gives many promises of peace in his Word. If you will meditate upon these promises you will become the possessor of an inner peace. Only God can give the kind of peace that can cleanse your life of stress and strain and provide healing and wholeness to all your relationships. Note these verses: 

• “Great peace have they who love your law, O God, and nothing can make them stumble” (Psalm 119:165 NIV).
• Jesus, knowing that He would soon leave his disciples, said to them, “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not be afraid” (John 14:27 NIV).
• “Therefore, since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5:1 NIV).
• “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7 NIV).
• “Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts, since as members of one body you were called to peace.  And be thankful” (Colossians 3:15 NIV).

In other words, you can have peace in your daily walk if you have peace in your heart. The surest way to have peace in your heart is to know the One who is the Prince of Peace, Jesus Christ.

Shalom!

(EDITOR’S NOTE — Parkerson is a native of Georgia, a graduate of Mercer University (B.A.), Southeastern Seminary (M. Div. and Th.M.), and Campbell University  (D.D.). He has served as pastor of one church in Georgia and five churches in North Carolina. Following retirement as pastor of the First Baptist Church in Sanford on September 30, 1996, he has served nine North Carolina churches as interim pastor. His column, The Paper Pulpit, has appeared weekly in a few newspapers and other publications since 1958.  He and his wife, Jessie, live in Wilmington near their daughter and family.)