Paul writes in Philippians 4:6-7: “Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.”  

That phrase, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding” is such a beautiful thought. It is the peace we all are looking for in this life.  

Our problem is that we look for that peace in all the wrong places. We try so hard to find it in the things of this world. However, this peace can only come from God. 

A beautiful thing happens when we put God as No. 1 in our lives: We are then able to place the things in this life into proper perspective. These earthly things no longer possess us. Now, we possess those things!  

As a result, we enjoy them more than ever before because we now have them in the proper perspective. 

Perhaps I can bring all of this together with a true story. I heard it many years ago from an older preacher.  

He was a Christian man who lived in a small Texas town at the turn of the 20th century. The locusts were swarming the fields in the area surrounding this small town. They were eating everything in sight.  

This was before the days of pesticides, so the farmers would burn fires around the edges of their crops to try to keep the locusts away.  

Everyone walked around with sadness upon their faces and gloom in their hearts because all crops were being eaten by the locusts. However, this Christian man showed no signs of sadness. He continued with his life as if nothing was happening!  

One day, a fellow farmer asked the Christian man how he could walk around with no worries while his crops were being consumed by the locusts. The answer he gave has been a blessing to me through the years.  

This man of God said, “A long time ago, I gave my God everything I had. I gave Him my crops, my land, my equipment, my house and my bank account. If my God wants to take His grasshoppers and feed them on His land, that is His business!”  

Here was a man who had his God and his possessions in the proper order in his life. Here was a man who had, “the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding.”