The anonymous author of the hymn “Peace like a River” clearly did not write it in December. Or maybe he did and was just too ashamed because he was at the mall like the rest of us.
John 16:33 says “I have told you these things so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world.” Several Biblical thinkers interpret this passage to mean: Peace is NOT the absence of trouble but the Presence of Christ.
Just how many times did God mention the word Peace in the Bible? A staggering 429 times. Faith and love are a distant second and third in the 300s. Do you think God was trying to knock us over the head with the concept of peace?
Leslie Hooton (FPC Member)