“Turn away from evil and do what is good; seek peace and pursue it.” (Psalm 34:14 CSB)
Devotional
What if peace is not something that happens to you, but something you actually have to go after?
That is not how I usually think about it. I tend to treat peace like weather, something that either shows up or it does not, mostly outside my control. This verse pushes back on that. David does not say wait for peace or hope for peace. He says seek it and pursue it, using the same kind of language you would use for chasing down something that keeps moving away from you.
Look at what comes right before that command. Turn away from evil and do what is good. Peace, in this psalm, is not separate from those choices. It is downstream of them. The small decision to not say the cutting thing in an argument, to let go of a grudge you have been quietly rehearsing, to choose honesty over the easier lie, these are not unrelated to peace. They are how you pursue it.
I find that both freeing and a little uncomfortable. Freeing, because it means peace is not a mood I am failing to muster. It is a direction I can actually walk in today, in ordinary decisions. Uncomfortable, because it means I cannot just wait around for circumstances to calm down before I experience it. Sometimes the pursuit of peace means I have to move first, apologise first, let something go first, before the feeling of peace ever arrives.
God is not asking us to manufacture calm out of nothing. He is inviting us into a way of living, turning from what harms and choosing what heals, that he promises will lead somewhere real. Peace here is less a feeling we chase and more a person we become, one decision at a time.
Reflection
I keep waiting for peace to arrive on its own instead of actually pursuing it through the small choices in front of me. I want to notice today where turning from something small could open the door to something better. Peace might be closer than I think if I am willing to go after it rather than wait for it.
Prayer
Father, we admit we treat peace like something that happens to us instead of something we pursue. Thank you for showing us that peace grows out of real choices, not just good luck or good moods. Give us courage to turn away from what harms and toward what heals, even in small moments today. Teach us to chase peace the way we would chase something we actually want.