Advent Week Two: Carrying Hope Into Peace

The Steady Work of Advent

Peace grows from hope; it doesn’t replace it. Advent teaches us to layer the gifts of God, not trade them out. We light both candles to carry Hope forward, and in its steady light, Peace begins to take shape.

This second week of Advent is my invitation to look again at who God has always been in the second seven names of the KNOWN Devotional. Peace is not something we could ever manufacture or control into being (if you haven't figured this out, being a mom will teach it to you). Peace is what the Holy Spirit brings with him, settling into the places Hope invites him.

The Good Shepherd — our protector and guide. Peace reshapes our inward parts when we prove to ourselves that he is the One who leads us with care, guarding us from what we cannot see and guiding us toward what we cannot yet imagine.

Resurrection & the Life — the One who brings life out of places that look winter-dead. Peace readies our hearts for regrowth when we remember that nothing in our lives is beyond his reach or renewal.

Alpha & Omega — our beginning and our end. Peace steadies us when we remember that our story is being authored—from first word to final breath—by the One who fully inhabits all of time itself. Nothing in our stories escapes his authoring presence.

Omnipresent — the God who is still present in our past, redeeming it, standing with us now, and victoriously standing by our side in our future. Peace settles our hearts when we remember it is impossible to be outside his presence.

El Shaddai — the God whose mountain of abundance is our sufficiency. Peace thrives in an environment of abundance. His abundance flows to us when we trust that his provision is not the bare minimum, but overflows from his nature and attributes. We trust his abundance because it fulfills the promises that he will be our God, we will be his people, and we will dwell in our midst.

Jehovah Rapha — the Lord who heals everything. Not just bodies or minds but a broken world. Peace guards our hearts as we obey his commission to participate in this healing, certain that his healing will be perfectly timed.

Jehovah Shalom — the God who holds us in peace. Peace becomes more than a concept when we realize it is not something we must cling to—it is Someone who stakes us to himself.

Peter’s words echo through this week of Peace: “Make every effort to add to your faith goodness… and to mutual affection, love.” This week in Advent, we are adding goodness to our faith because goodness is how God deals with us. Love motivates a holy God to deal with mankind in goodness.

This is the pattern of Advent: We keep adding. We keep remembering. We keep returning to Hope so Peace has room to settle.

As we light the second candle, may its glow remind us: Peace is not the absence of struggle but the presence of the God who leads, restores, heals, and holds.