While walking through a store, my friend’s 12-year-old daughter commented on a magazine cover about the December 2012 mass shooting that tragically killed 20 children and 6 adults at Sandy Hook Elementary School in the US. Her 6-year-old brother didn’t know much about the heartbreaking event, but he looked up at his mom and said, “I think my favorite name for Jesus is Prince of Peace.” “Me too,” my friend replied. “Me too.”

In the wake of unfathomable evil, we long for “the Lord of peace Himself” who offers us “His peace at all times and in every situation” (2 Thessalonians 3:16). When peace seems evasive, as it did for Job when he lamented, “I have no peace, no quietness. I have no rest; only trouble comes” (Job 3:26); we yearn, as author Rebekah Lyons wrote, for “the realization that mourning brings comfort, that above all, there is a God waiting to rescue in our darkest hour.”

Beautifully, our rescuer, our truest source of tranquility in a troubled world, was given to us in the form of a child. “For a Child is born to us, a Son is given to us. The government will rest on His shoulders. And He will be called: Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6).

Through Jesus Christ, we can experience peace, for “He will rule with fairness and justice from the throne of His ancestor David for all eternity. The passionate commitment of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will make this happen!” (Isaiah 9:7).

Cry out to the Lord when your heart is broken. Lean into His love and let Him bring you comfort in times of mourning and peace in the difficult times.

The Prince of Peace is your true source of peace.

NLT 365-day reading plan passage for today: Acts 17:1-15