Advent Peace

Written by Young-Hyun Moon

There is an old story about peace that I often heard growing up in my dad’s sermon illustrations: A king offered a prize to whoever could paint the best picture of peace. Many artists tried, but after much deliberation, the king was down to the last two paintings. The first depicted a calm lake. The still water mirrored the mountains dressed in vibrant fall foliage and fluffy white clouds against a blue sky. Everyone who saw it immediately felt at peace.

The second painting had mountains too, but these were rugged and bare. The sky was angry and streaked with lightning. Down the side of the mountain tumbled a foaming waterfall. There was nothing peaceful about this painting. But when the king looked more closely, he saw that behind the waterfall was a tiny bush growing in the rock. In the bush, a mother bird had built her nest. There, in the midst of the tumult, sat the mother bird on her eggs. The king chose this painting as the perfect picture of peace, explaining, “Peace doesn’t only exist in the absence of noise or suffering. True peace comes from within and exists in the midst of things as they are.”

As we approach the end of the year, I look back and reflect on all the ups and downs. On the one hand, my first full year of marriage to my beautiful wife, Abby, has been even better than I had hoped. It is so much fun living with my best friend. On the other hand, the process of applying to medical school has been fraught with late nights, anxious feelings of inadequacy, and uncertainty about the future; even now, we are still in a season of waiting to see where God will take us for this next chapter and how He will provide.

Zooming out, I look at the chaos and suffering in our world. Back in January, Time magazine released a list of the Top 10 Global Risks for 2024, which included: political dysfunction in the US, war in the Middle East and Ukraine, ungoverned AI, climate change, and global inflation. I wish they had been at least a little off with their predictions. Suffice to say, of all the words I would choose to describe this past year, “peaceful” wouldn’t crack my top ten.

When all my external cues are telling me it’s time to panic, I’m reminded by a still small voice to take a deep breath and look to Scripture. The Word of God doesn’t exist in a vacuum and it’s into our broken reality that Jesus speaks the following: “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid” (John 14:27, NIV).

My knee-jerk reaction is to think, “That’s easy for you to say, Jesus.” But then I remember that our Lord himself modeled how to find peace in adversity. We don’t worship a distant God, but one who chose to set his divinity aside and be born as a helpless babe into the squalor of first-century Judea. Jesus, who sought refuge in Egypt as an infant to avoid a murderous king. Jesus, who slept soundly in the boat while a storm raged around him. Jesus, who forgave his executioners as they crucified him. Jesus, who also said, “And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age” (Matt. 28:20).

This Advent season, my prayer is that when faced with trouble and uncertainty, I would choose to drown out the noise of my surroundings and look to Christ as my source of peace. Like the bird securely perched in its nest beneath the thundering waterfall, I pray that I would rest in the blessed assurance of my Savior. He is our Immanuel, God with us (Matt. 1:23). He is our Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace (Isa. 9:6).