In The Way?

Jesus began to tell his disciples plainly that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem, and that he would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day he would be raised from the dead. But Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things. “Heaven forbid, Lord,” he said. “This will never happen to you!”
Jesus turned to Peter and said, “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Matthew 16:21-23 

Did you know that we have a tendency to get in God's way?  In Matthew 16:21-23, Jesus gave His disciples a "heads up" as to what was going to happen to Him.  Jesus wanted them to understand that He was the Messiah and that His death was necessary to pay for our sins.  Then we see Peter pull Jesus aside and reprimand Him.  Can you imagine having the nerve to pull Jesus aside and try to correct Him?  Me either, but Peter did it.  Why? Because Peter was actually opposing God's plan with his human reasoning.

Guess what? We are just like Peter because we are also guilty of putting our own interests ahead of God's Plan.  Why do we do that?  We don't understand that God already knows the WHOLE story!  Peter didn't understand that Jesus' death was essential to God's plan of salvation.  Sometimes God's will seems so bizarre from our human perspective because it takes us out of our comfort zones and may even involve pain, illness, suffering or even loss.  But God's plan is incredibly better than anything we could possibly think up, because it is His Heavenly plan.

We may not see that the hurt we endure is actually God's tool to accomplish something in our lives. We seem to have this idea that the Christian life is supposed to a stroll along the beach with no trouble or struggle.  When our lives become uncomfortable, we try to be like Peter and reprimand God because WE think His plan is flawed.  Yet, God is the one who knows what it takes to complete His plan for our lives.

When Peter reprimanded Jesus, what did Jesus say to him?  “Get away from me, Satan! You are a dangerous trap to me. You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”  Remember, God already knows the WHOLE plan...we don't. Let God do His job!