“Thou dost keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee, because he trusts in thee” (Isa. 26:3).
There are two ways: the way of life, and the way of death. “Therefore choose life, that you and your descendents may live, loving the Lord your God, obeying his voice, and cleaving to him; for that means life to you and length of days” (Deut. 30:19-20). The way of life is the way of obedience to the will of God. The way of death is the way of disobedience to his will. God gives us the gift of his peace, but we will lose it if we do not obey him. But if we obey him with exactitude, he will preserve us in complete peace and joy of spirit. To be saved, we have to believe in the Savior, Jesus Christ. Then God will save us. He will forgive our sins and disobedience and put his perfect peace, his heavenly peace, into our heart. Then we will rejoice in the Holy Spirit and exult in the name of our God. If we continue in his will, obeying it perfectly, we will continue in this great joy and heavenly peace, glorifying God in our heart. We will then be among the righteous. Justified by Christ, they remain in his will, rejoice in his peace, and live in his glory. “They lift up their voices, they sing for joy; over the majesty of the Lord they shout” (Isa. 24:14). “The way of the righteous is level; thou dost make smooth the path of the righteous” (Isa. 26:7). Truly, “All the paths of the Lord are steadfast love and faithfulness, for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies” (Ps. 25:10).
But if we disobey God, we lose all this peace, and instead suffer agony of spirit and depression, for then we are under God’s wrath, and he is disciplining us in his love for us for our good (Heb. 12:5-11). This is why the prophet Isaiah says that the Lord “has brought low the inhabitants of the height, the lofty city. He lays it low, lays it low to the ground, casts it into the dust” (Isa. 26:5). This is because they are disobedient. In their pride, they do not follow God’s will. They have chosen the way of death, not of life. They have built the house of their life on sand, and it collapsed; but the house of the one who built on the rock of obedience to the will of God did not fall (Matt. 7:24-27). The point is that we must do more than just believe. We also have to do the will of God as he reveals it to us in our life and our heart. “Not every one who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of my Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 7:21).
If you want to have peace in your heart and not live in the pain of guilt and depression, you have to believe in Jesus Christ for your salvation and the forgiveness of your sins and for the gift of the joy of the Holy Spirit, and then do his will with exactitude. This is the way of life.
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