Jehovah Shalom, The Lord Is Peace

[Judges 6:24 NKJV]

24 So Gideon built an altar there to the LORD, and called it The-LORD-Is-Peace. To this day it is still in Ophrah of the Abiezrites.

Gideon was hiding in a winepress, threshing wheat.

Not because it was efficient. Because he was terrified.

For seven years, the Midianites had swarmed Israel like locusts, stealing crops, slaughtering livestock, leaving families starving. Israel hid in caves. Gideon crouched in the dark, just trying to keep enough grain to survive another week.

An angel appeared: "The LORD is with you, mighty warrior."

Gideon didn't feel mighty. He felt abandoned. "If God is with us, why is all this happening?"

God didn't answer the "why." He gave a mission: "Go save Israel."

Terrified, Gideon prepared an offering. Fire consumed it. And suddenly he realized who he'd been speaking to.

He expected to die. No one sees God and lives.

But God spoke two words: "Peace. Do not be afraid."

So Gideon built an altar. Jehovah Shalom (יְהוָה שָׁלוֹם): The LORD Is Peace.

Here's what's remarkable: the Midianites were still out there. Nothing had changed. The terror continued.

But peace came anyway.

The Hebrew word shalom means wholeness, completeness, flourishing, things being as they ought to be. Not calm feelings. Not the absence of conflict. The presence of God in the middle of the storm.

Jehovah Shalom offers peace before circumstances change.

What's stealing yours right now?

May the grace of God through Christ be with you.