Today, as I read yet again Jesus’s rebuke to Peter, I found it difficult to move past His words. It struck me, as it has done several times already, how different God’s perspective is. from ours.
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”
(Matthew 16:23 NKJV)
I did two things.
I woke up this morning and tears of gratitude filled my eyes as I thought about what Jesus went through...
My last blog post was about the Lord being our Shepherd. Now, I want to look at how we as sheep are to relate with our Shepherd and also with other sheep in order to thrive. Let’s see some interesting facts about sheep.
Jesus describes himself in John 10:11 as “the good shepherd”.
Who is a shepherd?
A shepherd or sheepherder is a person who tends, herds, feeds, or guards flocks of sheep. Let’s look at these different responsibilities carried out by the shepherd.
I’m pretty sure I speak for a lot of folks when I say one thing I want to experience more of is rest. Not necessarily physical rest, though that is good, but rest for my heart and mind. The rate at which people are just collapsing and dying shows that rest has become an elusive element in our lives; we are constantly stressed.
There are several scriptures that talk about rest but I want to focus on one in which Jesus basically gave a prescription for how to find rest –
As I approach what we consider a landmark age, I find myself undergoing some self-assessment and questioning what I’ve done with the decades I’ve spent on this earth.
Some think only men go through this self-critiquing but maybe that was when women didn’t think they had anything else to do on this earth but get married, have children, raise these children, and support their husbands as they fulfil purposes outside of the home.
Paul was writing to his protégé, Timothy, warning him of things to come. If we look at what he wrote, we will see that we are indeed living in the days of which he wrote –
You should know this, Timothy, that in the last days there will be very difficult times. For people will love only themselves and their money. They will be boastful and proud, scoffing at God, disobedient to their parents, and ungrateful. They will consider nothing sacred. They will be unloving and unforgiving; they will slander others and have no self-control. They will be cruel and hate what is good. They will betray their friends, be reckless, be puffed up with pride, and love pleasure rather than God. They will act religious, but they will reject the power that could make them godly. Stay away from people like that! (2 Timothy 3:1-5 NLT)
There is no doubt that these are very difficult times globally.
I’d like to share what was in my heart as I started writing the song I’ll Go Deep. It took me a few years to complete it but the things in my heart have remained the same.
Jesus had just finished informing his disciples of what was to come – that He “must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again.” (Mark 8:31 NKJV)
What was the reaction? Peter, the ever expressive and impulsive disciple, actually takes Him aside and rebukes Him. As an aside, I wondered why Peter did this. He had just declared Jesus to be the Messiah but I guess in his understanding, these things Jesus said He would be experiencing (especially the dying) didn’t fit into the picture. How often do we, in our own way, rebuke our Lord when He makes known to us His will for us or for others that doesn’t fit in with what we imagine it should be.
“… for all the earth is mine;”
(Exodus 19:5 ESV)
As I read these words God spoke to Moses to convey to the children of Israel, I had a picture of us as ants running around before God, pictured as the human being in this scenario. The difference between this scene which I imagined and reality is that we don’t make the ants, they are just much smaller than us and at our mercy (even the vicious ‘soldier ants).