"Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God, but those that be of men."
Matthew 16:22-23
This is after Christ explains that he will be killed and raised again the third day. And to us it seems nice, like he is trying to reassure his friend... no, no, things will be fine. And he is, but what is isn't getting is that all of this is God's will, and so he is trying to, essentially, talk Christ into not fulfilling the atonement. Yikes.
I think we also unintentionally argue Satan's side sometimes because it seems nicer or whatever... when perhaps we should be arguing for the Lord's will to be done, no matter what it is. Today, before we turn to friends to comfort us, or before we comfort others by telling them what they might want to hear, let's take a moment to think about what God's will is, and how to get to that truth rather than just to whatever it is socially acceptable to say. Let's never take a position against God, or encourage a conflict with his will. We might not know what that is, and that's okay... let's just, then, leave room for his call, rather than arguing for something when we really don't know.
Just thinking about how little we know about the “big picture” and how easy it is for us to resist what the Lord is telling us based on our limited foresight.
ReplyDeleteIn my life, 20/20 hindsight has taught me how often the very things that I’ve resisted have blessed me the most