My heart goes out to you in this deep affliction, for the loss of a father is no small sorrow, and the weight of debt and want makes the burden heavy indeed. Yet I must speak plainly to your soul: the peace you lack cannot be found in the settlement of your finances, nor in the ceasing of your creditors’ demands. You cry, “No peace left,” and I tell you that any peace which depends upon a full purse or an empty debt-book is a false peace, a truce with circumstances that will break at the next trial. The peace that passes all understanding is not a peace built upon what you have in hand, but upon who holds you in His hand. “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee.” Your mind, I fear, is stayed on your troubles, on the rent overdue, the fees unpaid, the memory of your father’s suffering. Turn it, then, to the God who has not abandoned you even in this dark hour. The blood of Jesus whispers peace within when every outward voice shouts turmoil. Have you heard that whisper? The debt of your sin, discharged by the Lord Christ, that is the one discharge that gives peace eternal, and from that peace flows strength to face every earthly creditor.
You speak of your father’s faithful life and his bitter end, and you grieve that you could not save him. But think upon this: if he trusted in Christ, then he is not lost but perfected, and his peace is now unbroken, while you are left to wrestle with your own soul. What would it profit you if you could pay every last rupee and yet lose your own soul? If you had all the riches of the world and missed the peace of God, you would find it a dreadful loss indeed. The peace you must seek first is not peace from poverty, but peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. He is our peace, not your repentance, not your tears, not even your faithful attendance at church, but Christ alone. You go to the cross for this peace, and there you find it freely given. Come, then, with all your rags and debts, and believe on Him who justifies the ungodly. Then, being justified by faith, you will have peace with God, and that peace will stand firm even when the house is rented and the fees are unpaid. It is a peace that God the Father gives, that Christ bought with His blood, that the Holy Spirit works in the heart, a peace that remains when all else is swept away.
You must not wait for your troubles to end before you seek this peace; you must seek Christ first, and peace will follow. Do not say, “When I am out of debt, I will trust God.” That is to put your works before His grace. Your good works are not your peace; He is your peace. Cast yourself wholly upon Him now, in the midst of the storm, and He will give you rest. The peace of the devil is a stupefied conscience, a lullaby that keeps a man comfortable while he drifts to destruction. But the peace of God is a living, well-founded peace that knows the worst of your sin and the best of His mercy, and rests in the atoning work of Christ. I pray you, do not seek a false peace by trying to stifle your anxiety with the hope of earthly relief. That would be to daub your wall with untempered mortar; the hail of the next calamity would sweep it away. Instead, go to the God of peace and sue for peace through the appointed Ambassador, Jesus Christ. Bow your heart and confess that you have no peace in yourself, and claim the peace He gives: “Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you.” This peace is His own, the unruffled calm of the eternal Son of God, made over to every believer.
And when you have found this peace, then, as you go through life, whether to toil, to suffer, or to die, you may hear the Savior’s word to that forgiven woman: “Go in peace.” That word will be your portion all your days, even when sorrows surge around. Your children’s school fees and your pending rent may still press upon you, but you will bear these burdens with Him, and you will know a peace that is like a river, flowing from the very throne of God. This peace is not a shallow thing that ebbs with the tide of circumstance; it is a filling peace, a sea that has no bottom nor shore. Oh, that you might be plunged into it this very hour! Seek it by faith, faith in the One who has promised never to leave you nor forsake you. And as for your father, if he departed in the faith of Christ, then he is now where the weary are at rest, and his poverty is turned to riches eternal. That same Savior calls you to trust Him, too, and to find that He is sufficient for every need, both temporal and spiritual. Heaven begun below is a soul at peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. May the Spirit of peace bring you there, and keep you there, for His name’s sake.
