History
In August 2010, a mine collapsed in Chile’s Atacama Desert. Thirty-three men were trapped 2,300 feet down. For seventeen days the…
Hope · Perseverance · Prayer
Psalm 40 · Romans 8
Story
Two pictures of peace
Traditional illustration, often paired with Psalm 46
An old preaching story tells of an artist contest on the theme of peace. One canvas is a still alpine lake at dawn — glass water, quiet sky. The other is a waterfall in a storm, rock and spray, and in a cleft of the cliff a bird sits on her nest. The second painting wins. Peace, the judge says, is not the absence of the storm. It is a place to rest in the middle of it. The tale is traditional, not a documented event. It survives because it tells the truth Psalm 46 tells: God is a refuge, not a sedative.
How you’d preach it
Say aloud that this is a traditional tale, not a news story. Then let the image carry the text: the promise is not a life without weather. It is a nest in the rock.
- Rest
- Suffering
- Hope
Psalm 46 · John 16
Psalm 46:1–3; John 16:33