you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men." matthew 16:23
i'm very sorry that this blog is off-topic from mr. stott's message for today, but i was compelled by il's blog on monday to post the following comments.
the passage in question is matthew 16:21-28, where peter passionately states that he will not stand for Jesus being killed at the hands of the elders, chief priests and the teachers of the law.
peter is immediately rebuked and "brought down to size" by the Lord, who tells him, "you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men".
it is a hard passage to understand at first. peter's protest against Jesus's dying makes so much sense and is so completely understandable from the human perspective.
but what if peter's request had been granted? a failed insurrection with jesus as a political or military leader? no cross, no forgiveness, no hope of salvation.
we are reminded again that God's ways are not our ways; and His thoughts are far above our own.
as in the case of peter, even the best of our motives are often tainted by self-deceit and self-pride when we really examine them!
although we may not see it at the time, we should be very thankful that there are occasions that God does NOT grant the prayers we ask of Him.
many times we don't know what we're asking for. and most times, we lack wisdom as to when to ask for the things we desire.
i can think of examples in the bible and in real life, where people have stubbornly insisted on doing things "their" way, instead of God's way, have insisted on "their" own timing, instead of God's timing etc.
God appears to grant them their request, but does it really bring them the happiness they thought it would?
one example from the bible is in the first book of samuel, when israel insists on having a king, like the "other nations" do.
God is very displeased with this request, knowing that it is a rejection of Him. He warns them repeatedly that they will be ill-treated and led astray by their future rulers.
israel ignores these warnings and clamors for a king, anyway. God answers this request.
how grievously israel sins under the rulership of her kings, and how far she falls into apostasy and idolatry, is faithfully recorded in 1st and 2nd kings and in 1st and 2nd chronicles.
the extent of the suffering both the northern and southern kingdoms of israel eventually endure, especially in their respective declines, is unimagineable.
at the lowest point of judah's (the southern kingdom) torment, during the siege of jerusalem by the babylonians, mothers were reduced to eating their own children.
we should honestly present our requests to God in prayer. but when we insist on requests that we know are displeasing to Him, watch out.
it just goes to show that with God, be very, very, very careful what you ask for . . . you might just get it.
scary...then how do we make sure that our request is not displeasing to him?
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ReplyDeleteDulla,
ReplyDeleteI too felt compelled to refelct on Monday's passage throughout the past week. Even as I was responding on Wednesday's devotion, I found myself reflecting back to Monday's passage on Peter. I was puzzled by how my mind was responding and so I saved my post on my desk top to see if it would make more sense when I come back to it later. Feb 13 08:
For me, Mark 8:35 means as you live your life as a follower of Christ you will be called to give up, let go, or cut off some part of yourself for the sake of keeping a righteous and loving relationship with Christ or for the spreading of the gospel. It may be your desire for wealth, fame, sucess, or perhaps something like pride, anger, lust, greed, doubt. It may even be a noble dream, or even an honorable desire to achieve something great. Didn't Peter have great dreams for Jesus? As Stott pointed out, Peter had high hopes for Jesus to be the hero that saves Israel at that point in time. However, Jesus rebuked Peter because what Peter envisioned to be a the ultimate fulfillment of his life was not part of God's will.
As Peter witnessed Jesus dying on the cross, he must of felt that he lost everything he had hoped for because he retreated back to his old life before he met Jesus.
Or- did Peter retreat back to his old life because he no longer felt worthy to be part of God's kingdom now that he has utterly failed to follow through on his bold confession to stand by Jesus....?
With mercy and grace Jesus did to call Peter back to His side and Peter did let go of his past life as a fisherman for the 2nd and last time. And Peter did let go of his dreams for Jesus to be his political hero. Then, Peter was able to become what Peter was meant to be- much greater than what the world had to offer him as a fisherman-Peter became a fisher of men for Jesus Christ.
I still wonder what it really takes for me to loose my life for Christ. I too had dreams in my head of what I want myself and my life to look like as a child of God. Then as I falter and fail to fulfill those dreams for Christ, I find myself retreating back into the pattern of this world- back into the ways I know how to sustain myself and my life. Perhaps, like it was for Peter at first, my love for Christ is more like affection-weak and variable.
And my faith, like the waves of the sea-chaotic and unsteady. Yet, one day, I hope to be able to take the risk of being swallowed up by it as Peter did when he stepped off the boat towards Jesus.
Does this make sense to you?