You have asked the Father to surround you and your family with His peace, and that is no small thing to lay before the throne. It is the very thing our Lord bequeathed to His own when He said, “My peace I give unto you.” So you have come asking for what already belongs to you in Christ, and it pleases Him to hear you claim it. The world has a kind of peace that is like a painted ceiling, smooth and bright above, but it covers only rot and ruin. The peace of God is altogether different: it can live in a house where sorrow hangs upon the wall, and it can sing in a heart that is still waiting for healing to come. Do not mistake the absence of trouble for the presence of peace. You may have the trial and yet have the peace too, just as a ship in deep water holds its cargo steady though the waves run high.
That evil you asked to be delivered from, it is real enough, and I will not speak lightly of it. But I would have you remember that you are not under its power. A dog on a chain may bark fiercely at you, but if you belong to the Master who holds the chain, the dog cannot fasten its teeth upon you. The Evil One is on a chain, and that chain is in the pierced hand of Christ. He may howl and he may frighten, but he cannot devour those for whom Jesus has shed His blood. You are not in his dominion; you have been brought into another kingdom altogether, and the King you serve has already won the victory. Let that settle deep into your spirit: the darkness you fear is not your native air anymore. You breathe a different atmosphere now, and one little candle of God’s promise is enough to make all that darkness flee.
When the night stretches long and your heart is heavy with these burdens, do not let the dog of unbelief have its tongue. It will tell you that God has forgotten, that your prayers are lost on the wind, that you and your family are left to shift for yourselves. That is the old fiery dart, and it has been shot at the saints in every age. But faith has a better voice, and I would have you listen to that voice instead. Faith says, “I shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord.” Not because you are strong, not because the storm is letting up, but because the God who called you is faithful and He will finish what He began. Just as Luther wrote it upon his wall in the face of every threat, so write it upon your heart now. Your life, your family’s life, is hid with Christ in God, and no hand can pluck you out.
I want you to picture something with me. In the wilderness, when the people were parched and weary, God gave them wells. They did not dig those wells themselves; they came upon them already sunk deep, already brimming with cool water. So it is for you now. Christ is your great deep, the fountain that no drought can empty. Beside Him there is His Word, and in that Book are promises fitted to your every need, promises older than your trouble, tried by ten thousand saints before you, and never once found to fail. When your heart is fainting, lower the bucket into that well. Take a single promise and drink it down; let it wet your soul. You do not need a new revelation. You need only to take what God has already spoken and hold Him to it, as a child holds a father’s hand in the dark.
The duties of home and the cares for your family may press upon you like a crowd, one thing, then twenty things, all crying out at once. That is when the soul is wearied and then worried. But there is a quiet place where you may stand even while the crowd presses. To know you are doing what Jesus would have you do, that is rest. To leave what you cannot do in His hands, that is peace. He does not ask you to carry the whole weight of the house or to be the savior of your household. He has a broad shoulder for that. Do the little you can do, and leave the rest to Him.
So let me speak it over you plainly. You are not forsaken. You are not left to the teeth of the enemy. The healing you seek is in the hand of the One who never fails to hear, and the peace you long for is already yours in Jesus Christ. Let your heart settle upon that.
Lord Jesus, You are the Prince of Peace. Speak peace over this dear one and over the household that is so loved. Spread Your wings over them tonight, and let no evil draw near their dwelling. Be their physician where they hurt, their shield where they are threatened, their deep well when they are dry. Give them such a taste of Your peace that the world’s noise grows faint and the enemy’s lies lose their sting. For You are ours, and we are Yours, forever. Amen.