Garmin won’t find it. Life360 can’t identify it. And Google will certainly never get you there. But it is there. It exists. Even if we have not yet found it. A quiet place. A place of respite and reprieve. A place where the noise of anxiety is canceled by overriding peace, assurance, transcendent joy. The peace chamber. That restful, therapeutic, comforting place where our cares are admitted, but told to sit down and be quiet. A place where the myopia of worry, grief, weariness, disappointment are corrected by the lenses of grace, thanksgiving and peace. A little glimpse of heaven.

Have you found it?  For some it may be the forest.  Or maybe the barn.  A well-worn chair.  Or even a closet.  Especially a prayer closet. Perhaps it is in music or reading.  Or with a beloved one who always seems to right the listing ship.  For the introvert it is a day alone. And for the extrovert a day with others.   Where do you go when the world is upside down and inside out?  Where will you be found when “the earth gives way, the mountains are moved into the heart of the sea, its waters roar and foam, and the mountains tremble at its swelling?”

Life in a fallen world is not peaceful.  Anything but.  It is not our home.  But it is our dwelling.  The beloved Psalmist describes it as a Valley of the Shadow of Death.  Yet even there, the Good Shepherd provides a place of safety, of peace.   Where is your peace chamber?  Where is your respite?  Your place of resting?  The place where faith replaces fear?

At first glance, Leviticus may not seem peaceful.  So filled with law, duty, and sacrifice.  Filled with divine particulars and divine justice.  To the sin weary soul, a Christless look at Leviticus feels like more guilt, more condemnation, one more bar set too high.  Seen through Christ, however, it reveals a glorious place of respite, relief, forgiveness, grace, and yes, peace.

Like Isaac, we often look at Leviticus and ask, “Behold, the fire and the wood, but where is the lamb for a burnt offering?” And God says, “I have provided for myself the lamb for a burnt offering, my child.”  Leviticus dives immediately into instructions for the burnt offering pointing worshippers, ancient and modern, to Christ’s full and finished redeeming sacrifice.  The grain offerings that follow reflect the grateful response of redeemed people to a gracious God who,

Ransomed [us] from the futile ways inherited from [out] forefathers, not with perishable things such as silver or gold, but with the precious blood of Christ, like that of a lamb without blemish or spot.

1 Peter 1:18-19

Then in Leviticus 3, the Lord introduces the peace offering, a meal in which redeemed people joyfully gather to feast with their God.  The name of this sacrifice is literally “the slaughter of wholeness.”  And in this shared sacrificial meal, God’s people find a place of peace and wholeness.  A peace chamber that silences the accusations of the enemy of our souls.  And corrects our vision to see the loving-kindness of our sovereign, mighty, gracious, loving God so often obscured by the cataracts of sin.

Where is your peace chamber?  The woods?  The barn?  The well-worn chair?  The day alone? The day with others?  Or is it in gathering for worship?  In the Word? In prayer?  In the “diligent use of all the outward means whereby Christ communicates to us the benefits of redemption.”

Leviticus 3 unpacks for us God’s call to draw near and cry out with the Psalmist.

He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High
    will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.
I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
    my God, in whom I trust.”

Psalm 91:1-2

Hymnwriter, Henry Lyte expressed it well.

Abide with me: fast falls the eventide;
   the darkness deepens; Lord, with me abide.
When other helpers fail and comforts flee,
   Help of the helpless, O abide with me.

Abide With Me, Henry Lyte

Where is your peace chamber? Join us as we examine Leviticus 3 and consider the instructions for the peace offerings and how we find peace in God’s promises and presence. We meet each Lord’s Day on the square in Pottsville, right next to historic Potts’ Inn at 10:30 am for worship. Get directions here or contact us for more info. Or join us on Facebook Live @PottsvilleARP or YouTube.