Peace and Unpeace

Job 3:25-26 provides what Beth considers a good description of the absence of peace. It says,

"What I feared has come upon me;
what I dreaded has happened to me.
I have no peace, no quietness
I have no rest, but only turmoil."

A friend of mine calls this state of turmoil "unpeace." It's that feeling of something being not quite right, something out of whack, something that won't let the hackles of your soul lie down and rest. Usually it's a little nagging worm squirming around in your subconscious so that you might not have any idea what the cause is, much less what to do about it. Instead of immediately trying to figure out the source of the unpeace or trying to medicate it away (chocolate, anyone? shopping?), my friend believes that unpeace is a gong to get our attention and call us to go running back to the Father's arms. There, as nowhere else, we can find the true roots of our unpeace and have them dealt with perfectly. In his lap, we find courage for self-examination and self-disclosure, security for repentance, comfort for our wounds, assurance for our fears, forgiveness of our wrongs--restoration with our King.

So, as the Muslims have their call to prayer several times a day during Ramadan, we have a call to run to God in prayer, too, every time we recognize that nagging drag of unpeace.

What do you think of that idea?