Isaiah 26:3, "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on Thee because he trusteth in Thee." (KJV)


I had read the above scripture many times, but today two words, "perfect peace", jumped out at me.   I know what peace is, but what is perfect peace?   I looked up the Hebrew translation of Isaiah 26:3 and found that the two words, perfect and peace in this scripture were the same word.  They are both the Hebrew word "shalom." The scripture literally reads, "Thou wilt keep him in shalom shalom whose mind is stayed on thee..." (For all of you Bible scholars out there, here are the complete Hebrew written words of this passage.   I have hi-lighted the two words shalom side by side. יֵ֣צֶר סָמ֔וּךְ תִּצֹּ֖ר שָׁלֹ֣ום שָׁלֹ֑ום כִּ֥י בְךָ֖ בָּטֽוּחַ׃ )

After seeing this, I needed to know why the Lord would duplicate a word in a sentence.  He could have said He will keep us in peace and that would have been excellent in itself, but He chose to write shalom twice.   It certainly was not by coincidence or an error on His part.

What I found is that the translation of this double shalom (peace) means that the Lord will give a double portion of His kind of shalom to those who focus on Him. 

Shalom means so much more than only being at peace or having no conflict.  It means completeness, soundness, welfare, prosperity, safe, good health, happy, favored, rest, literally nothing missing or broken in one's life, complete restoration.

Reflect on that for a moment.  In Isaiah 26:3 God is promising us a double portion of completeness, soundness, welfare, prosperity, safety, good health, happiness, favor, rest, nothing missing or broken in our lives if we will focus on Him putting our confidence in Him and not in ourselves.  This is a double portion inheritance and blessing!  Wow, what an awesome Heavenly Father we have!

Oh, Heavenly Father, please help us keep our focus on You today.

God bless you!
Pastor Sandy