If I say I have the peace Scripture describes, the peace Jesus gives, not as the world gives, rooted not in time but in eternity, the peace that passes all understanding, then that peace should affect my behaviour. It should shape my attitude. It should govern how I respond to whatever life throws at me.

I was confronted with this earlier this year, when I was laid off for the third time in three years.

Looking back over those three years, God has provided every single time. He has made a way out of no way, just as the Scriptures I hold to say He would.

The second one came out of the blue, on top of other difficult circumstances, and it hit me hard. It didn't shake my faith in God. Deep down, I knew He could make a way, and probably would. But I was tired, and it shook my peace.

That season taught me that a sound mind is a gift from God, not something to take lightly.

A mind governed by the Spirit of God is a gift, and like any gift, it's kept through fellowship with the One who gave it. Looking back, my fellowship with God before that second lay-off wasn't what it had been the first time. So when it came, holding the right perspective was harder.

God had even warned me one night, through a dream, to “run into prayer.” I didn't heed that warning as I should have. In hindsight, if my fellowship had been where it should have been, I would have been far better placed to walk in this:

Then something interesting happened. Weeks before this year's lay-off, my devotional time moved back towards a study I'd done on peace. One of its main principles was that the peace God offers is a state of wholeness, harmony and completeness that flows from God Himself.

And I was reminded of Moses. God gave him clear instruction concerning the rock:

But Moses became angry and struck the rock. The Psalms tell us what was happening underneath:

That frightens me. Moses and Aaron had just been in the presence of God. They had just received divine instruction. Yet Moses let what was happening around him provoke something within him, to the point that it changed how he responded to what God had said.

Then I came back to a Scripture I've read many times:

This time, the end of that verse hit me like a brick. Life and peace. Keeping my peace is tied to keeping my fellowship with God. If I mind the things of the Spirit, life and peace are what that produces.

That changed something for me. Peace can't just be something I ask God for after a painful circumstance arrives. It's the place I'm meant to respond from, in bad times and good. If we prioritise His presence, perhaps we'll spend less time desperately asking for peace, because we'll understand it for what it is: the by-product of a spiritual life, and a spiritual life is one where His presence comes first.

So when the third lay-off came, it was different. Not only did I know it was coming, I had been anchoring myself in God's word, hiding it in my heart. My response and my disposition have been entirely different, and even my wife has noticed the change.

If the joy of the LORD is my strength, if in His presence is fulness of joy, and at His right hand there are pleasures for evermore, then there's only one place I need to dwell. Near Him.

And the fruit of that communion should show up somewhere. In my behaviour, my attitude, my approach and my perspective. In how I show up at home, at work, and in the world. Because if I say I have a peace that passes understanding, but it never touches how I respond when something happens that I don't understand, then I have to ask myself a serious question.

So let me ask you. Does peace govern your response to life? Does it show in some areas more than others? When bad news comes, does it shake your peace and pull you away from God? Or does it drive you back into the presence of the One your peace came from in the first place?

So let us draw near with confidence. Whatever happens in time, we can reach beyond what we presently see and draw from the eternal God. We can face uncertain days, unexpected news, and circumstances we didn't plan for and don't yet understand. The peace we carry is His own, given by a Saviour who isn't in the grave.