The peace that passes understanding

“And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” Philippians 4:7
The peace of God is a fantastic thing to know. It’s one of those things that can be difficult to explain – I’m reluctant to talk about it as an ‘experience’ or a ‘feeling’, because to describe it in those terms makes it sound like something I’m invoking from within myself. That’s not how it works. Often God gives us His peace in times of turmoil. At a time when you think you’d be having a panic attack or freaking out about something, inside you, welling up from your spirit, is a peace that cannot be explained by the circumstances surrounding you. That’s the peace of God.
Paul tells us here that the peace of God guards our hearts and our minds. We can, and should, be led by the peace of God in making major life decisions. This is one of the major ways I’ve found that the Holy Spirit guides me. When you look at the options that you have, some may leave you with a sense of unease – a lack of peace about taking that particular route. There may be one in particular about which you have this peace. This was exactly what happened to me when I bought my house a few years ago: after looking at several different places, I had peace about one in particular as soon as I walked in the door. At first we came to a stalemate in the negotiations, but a week later all the paperwork was signed off, and the rest is history.
However, the peace of God can only guard us as long as we are attentive and obedient to it. The choice is ours. And if you have multiple choices, and none of them gives you peace, then the best course of action is to do nothing, but wait until you have God’s peace about what to do.