Shalom
“Alert! Alert! Incoming. Open all pathways from the ears to the brain. This will knock your socks off.” These words resounded in my mind as said ears heard the pastor say, “Shalom means so much more than our English word for peace. It means an all-encompassing wholeness. It’s more than the absence of war or conflict. It speaks to the positive.”
Whaaaat? Where has this information been all my Christian life? Shalom means peace. I’ve heard it over and over and over. Yet now, this man said it means more?
Thus began my interest in the Hebrew word shalom. At first, it was just that, interest. Then another pastor repeated similar words. Then another. Each time my interest increased and I wanted to understand it more.
BlueLetterBible.org translates peace as shalom and gives words like completeness, soundness, welfare, safety, peace, friendship tranquility, contentment. It’s a comforting word picture.
I used these definitions in a past blog post, and in Beach Beatitudes. But I wanted more. I felt there was more to understand. How does a person put that all together? The separate words give a wonderful picture, but is there more, God? That was my question.
This is what really knocked my socks off. Yes. There is. A few weeks ago God led me to the above pictograph and the impact still has me reeling.
Peace means destroy the authority attached to chaos. (Hebrew reads right to left) Chaos is the opposite of peace. When we don’t have peace inside, we have chaos inside.
I pray this hits you with the same force it hits me. Who brings chaos? Satan does. Yet Jesus says He gives us peace, a different peace than the world gives. He gives the peace that passes understanding (John 14:27 and Philippians 4:7). Because His authority is greater than the authority that establishes chaos, He has the ability to do so. He destroyed that authority by His death on the cross.
Even in the middle of the worst storms and trials of our lives, Jesus can bring us wholeness, completeness, soundness, and safety and provision because He can destroy the power of the chaos.
Lord, give us hearts and minds that can process the depth of this word. We bow before You in awe of what shalom reveals about you.
PS. The link below will take you to a second article I found that corroborates this information. It tells the meaning of each of the “pictures” and puts it all together. The above picture comes from https://kaylened.wordpress.com/2020/08/22/shalom-the-ancient-hebrew-meaning/.
