You speak of a feared conflict, a flame that might be lit, and you ask for truth to be revealed and for peace to be brought out of all this. Yet note well: the peace that passes all understanding is the gift of God to the soul whose mind is stayed upon Him, not the mere smoothing of earthly complications. If you seek first a happy alignment of persons and events, you may miss the peace which Christ gives, the peace which the world cannot give and cannot take away. The blood of Jesus whispers peace within, even while the battle rages without, even when men speak falsely or when the way before you is dark. Lay hold of that peace first, for without it, every outward calm is but carnal security, a slumber upon the top of a mast while the storm gathers.
You ask that the truth about everything come out. That is a right prayer if it be joined with a readiness to buy the truth at any price. Do you desire truth enough to lose a false peace? Do you want the truth about others’ words and motives only so that you may be vindicated, or so that you may be conformed to the truth of God? Remember, the Lord may reveal truth in a way that humbles you as well as others. If you would have the truth, take it from His hand and do not dictate its shape. Buy the truth, hold to it, and let it cost you what it may, even the loss of a hoped-for meeting or a settlement that seems fair. For the truth which God gives is a solid foundation, while the truths we manufacture to soothe our fears are but shadows.
You speak of Job and the fear that your own glory may not return. Job, too, lost much, and yet he sinned not nor charged God foolishly. In all his bewildering trials, he held his peace, saying, “It is the Lord; let Him do what seems good to Him.” That is a hard saying, yet it is the gateway to perfect peace. You are anxious lest you be drawn into an old strife, lest an accusation be thrown in your face, and you feel the old flame kindled. Yet if God be your refuge, what can man do? If your heart be fixed, trusting in the Lord, then even if the worst be said, you may answer softly or hold your tongue, for the battle is the Lord’s. Job had to retract all his pleadings when God spoke; so must we. We are wrong, God must be right.
Do not plot how you will answer when the moment comes. Do not rehearse the scene in your mind, for that is but to borrow tomorrow’s trouble and lose today’s strength. Instead, cast your burden on the Lord. He who cares for you will give you a mouth and wisdom when the hour arrives. The peace you crave will not come by working everything out in your favor as you now see it; it comes by yielding the whole tangled web into the hands of Him who is on the throne. Jesus knows, and He is on the throne, that is the end of all doubts about the future. If you trust Him, you are safe, and they for whom you are anxious are safe in His keeping too.
As for the job you seek, pray for it and labor for it, but let not your peace hang upon it. If you hold it long or short, it is well if it be the Lord’s appointment. The true freshness of the soul comes not from a steady wage but from the anointing of the Holy Spirit, who makes all our glory fresh in God. Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added unto you.
You fear that one is keeping you from meeting another. I charge you, beware of that spirit of suspicion which would make you a spy in your own affairs. Wait on the Lord; He knows the right time and the right way. If a meeting be for your good and His glory, no scheming of man can hinder it. If it be not, then it will be a mercy that it is blocked. Do not set your heart upon it overmuch, for “man’s goings are of the Lord; how can a man then understand his own way?”
Come, then, to the Prince of Peace. Let this whole sorrow and hope drive you to His feet. There, and there only, you will find that peace which is solid and abiding, founded on eternal truth, guaranteed by the God of holiness. Do not seek a flattering peace that cries “Peace, peace” where there is no peace; rather, let the Holy Spirit search you and show you if there be any wicked way in you, that you may be cleansed. Then, with a conscience sprinkled by the blood of Jesus, you may walk in a calm that no outward storm can shake. Commit your way unto the Lord; trust also in Him, and He shall bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your judgment as the noonday. Pray, then, not chiefly that things be worked out in your favor, but that God’s name be hallowed, His kingdom come, and His will be done in this, as in all things. That is to pray in the name of Jesus indeed.