You ask for peace, peace in your own home, and peace in the great trouble of the land. It is a right and good request, born of the Spirit who is the Comforter. And it is a request that the Lord Jesus Christ loves to hear, for He Himself said, "My peace I give unto you." Not the world's peace, which is a painted cobweb, but a deep, abiding peace that the wildest storm cannot crack.
Let us think of your home first, for that is the nearest shore to your heart. A house where hearts are jangled and words fly sharp is a house where the roof seems to leak more than any storm outside. But you know, Jesus is the Master of the house. When He stood in the boat on Galilee, the winds were loud and the waves were high, but He spoke a quiet word and the sea fell flat as a mirror. The same voice can hush the tempest under your own timbers. Not that He always calms the outward storm immediately, sometimes He lets the wind blow while He calms His child within. That is a greater miracle even, for the storm without is nothing if the heart within is anchored fast. I have known a saint to be perfectly at rest while all the pots and pans of domestic life were clattering around her, because she had learned the secret of doing the will of Jesus as rest. "To do the will of Jesus, this is rest." When you know you are where He would have you be, doing what He has set before you, then the thronging duties cannot drown the music of His voice. Even the harsh words of others lose their sting when the soul has hidden herself in the cleft of the Rock.
As for the land, the nation, the wider world, there is such a surging of hatred and violence, isn't there? You feel it in the air, a heavy, oppressive weight. It is right to pray for wisdom for those who are tossed about, for those who instigate and for those who suffer. The throne of grace is the lever that moves the world. Remember, Christ knows what it is to be hated without a cause. They gnashed on Him with their teeth; they spat in His face; they nailed Him to the tree, and yet He prayed, "Father, forgive them." He is not a high priest who cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities. When you see the madness of men, you may pour out your grief into His ear. He understands. And He sits at the right hand of the Father, ruling all things. The nations to Him are a drop in the bucket. The wrath of man shall praise Him, and the remainder of wrath He will restrain. You are not called to set the whole world right, but you are called to trust the One who will. When obstacles and trials seem like prison walls, do the little you can do, and leave the rest to Him.
The wisdom you seek for all people is from above. That wisdom is first pure, then peaceable, gentle, easy to be entreated. Ask largely, for He gives liberally. And ask that the Spirit of God would lead the multitude out of the deep mire of their own passions into the fair pastures of His will. I have seen a flock of sheep frightened and scattered by a stray dog, and yet the shepherd's voice brought them back to the fold. The Spirit is the heavenly Dove; He will not abide where there is malice and clamor, but He will come in as a soft wind to cool the fevered brow of our time. Pray that He would lead; He will hush the tumult in many a breast.
Do not let your present sight deceive you. A love-letter may come in a black-edged envelope, and we may dread to open it, but within the folded paper there are words of crimson love from our Beloved. So too this shaking of the nations, this unrest at home, it may be the very frame around a picture of divine faithfulness. He who wept over Jerusalem will surely pity, and in due season, He will arise and say, "Peace, be still." In the meantime, you are not forgotten. The Father's hand is holding yours in the dark.
Let us pray.
Lord Jesus, Prince of Peace, speak the word and let the winds cease in this dear one's dwelling. Let Your calm fall upon that household as the dew upon the grass. For our troubled land, we ask for Your mighty intervention: give wisdom to those who lead, soften hard hearts, comfort the wounded, and let the Spirit of God brood upon the chaos, bringing light and order. Draw this soul nearer to Your side, sheltered in the love that can never be broken. We rest in Your faithfulness. Amen.