I meant to help, but it resulted in confusion. In approaching a woman who appeared homeless and in need, I began to communicate with her. Immediately it was clear that she was deaf. She signed to me but I couldn’t sign back. I ended up following her directions to call a number for someone to come and pick her up but no one answered. Her motions and eyes screamed frustration with me. I still feel confused about this interaction to this day.

Confusion happens to us as humans. But it doesn’t happen to God. There is not a situation that launches God into confusion. Wayne Grudem states, “In God’s being and in His actions He is separate from all confusion and disorder.”¹ He fully understands in perfect clarity everything. He understands warring between individuals, countries, and even within ourselves. He knows what happened, why it happened, and what will happen.

God is separate from all confusion because He exists wholly complete and content within Himself.² There is no confusion about who He is, what He ought to do, or why He is doing it. Satan, evil, and sin do not confuse God or throw Him into disorder. God cannot be shaken or divided; He is the God of peace!

God’s peace is extremely practical for humans. It removes the problem of sin between God and humanity (Luke 1:79). We are no longer estranged but reconciled. His salvation peace guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus (Phil. 4:7). We can withstand outward and inward anxious shakings. His peace is with us in obedience to His will (Phil. 4:9). And God’s peace will bring order to the evil of this world (Rom. 16:20). Ultimately, God’s peace drives us to trust Him in our confusion and disorder. You can trust the Lord our God; He is our peace in Christ Jesus!

Romans 16:20 – The God of peace will soon crush Satan under your feet.
The grace of our Lord Jesus be with you.

¹Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology: An Introduction to Biblical Doctrine (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1995), 203.

²“The Hebrew translation of shalom is “completeness,” “wholeness,” “well-being,” or “welfare and peace.” It is derived from a root that means “to be complete” or “to be sound.” See Carpenter, E. E., & Comfort, P. W., Holman Treasury of Key Bible Words: 200 Greek and 200 Hebrew Words Defined and Explained (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 2000), 135.