Psalm 27:3 KJV
Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident.

John 14:27 KJV
Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.

Yesterday I spoke to two people, international students from India. One was slim, the other was bigger with heavy red bags under his eyes. I interrupted their conversation, but they were happy to talk and stood to speak with me. I asked if they knew each other before coming to the UK. They said no. They met here and bonded over cigarette smoking. One had been smoking for six years, the other for ten. The slim one was more talkative. He lamented about a serious breakup he experienced after a relationship of many years, and how the darkness and the pressures of life led him to cigarettes. He said he did not start off addicted, implying that he now was.

I asked about the story for the other one, what led him to cigarettes. He did not want to say. He shook his head at me with a subtle terror which left me confused. His friend explained on his behalf that his story was much darker and that if he were to expand on it, it would change the entire atmosphere of the conversation. I looked into his gloomy eyes, attempting to speculate what could have happened. Could it have been the death of loved ones, maybe something worse? I’m not sure, but whatever it was, it must have been deeply traumatic. There seemed to be a dark cloud hovering over his very being. His countenance was defeated, and he positioned himself offset from me, subtly implying that “I am here and around, but focus on my friend, don’t engage with me”.

The conversation was brief, but the Lord placed a simple word in my heart for them. I said I have one verse for you! Jesus said, my peace I give to you.. not as the world gives. I told them the world offers a type of peace. It is seen in many vices: smoking, drinking, partying, binge eating, binge watching. The world’s peace is seen in escapism, an attempt to temporarily forget about your current situation. I joked that I used to be a weed smoker, and truly, it offered a type of peace for that moment. But I told them Jesus has a type of peace that he wants to give you. It is not as the world gives. The water the world offers leaves you thirsty again. But the water God offers, you will forever be satisfied.

John 4:13-14 KJV
Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: [14] But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.