The Lodestar

When we keep our hearts free of anxiety, are thankful for what God has done for us in the past, and trust him for the future, he responds kindly. He sets a guard at the door of our hearts to stop all that would unsettle our minds at the entrance.

The phrase “guard our hearts” echoes military language, evoking the image of a sentry at the army camp, watching every move around so that his comrades could sleep safely. Those inside the tent feel secure because their faithful colleague is watchful.

The guard God appointed is a unique peace called “peace that surpasses all understanding.” NLT translates it as peace, “which exceeds anything we can understand.” No one would understand the reason for that peace. To cite an extreme example, it is the peace that a young person who has many dreams for the future experience when the doctor tells him that he has only three days to live. Though that news should trouble anyone, he is calm; the reason for the peace he experienced cannot be explained.

It is this unusual, supernatural peace that God sets in our hearts. The worries and anxieties that we have cast out of our hearts by trusting them to God cannot break through that peace to the inner chambers of our hearts.

It is the peace of God or the peace that God provides. It is not an earthly peace we experience when all things go well, but since it comes from God, it can always be experienced, even when everything goes wrong.

If the guard is weak, then worries and fears that we drove out of our hearts could easily creep back. But God promises those who trust in him and are thankful to him that he will provide his peace as the guard of our hearts.

The world stands in awe at the sight of a Christ-follower because they struggle to understand how this seagull could hover over a turbulent sea.