Seeing Things as God Sees Them

Mark 8:33 Jesus turned and looked at his disciples and then said to Peter very sternly, "Get away from me, Satan! You are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s."

Peter was impulsive and very loyal. His understanding was that Jesus would establish His kingdom on earth. He thought, like everyone else did, that Jesus was going to put an end to the Roman’s oppressive government and that Jesus would rule over the earth in peace. When Jesus told the disciples that He was going to die, Peter quickly tried to remind Jesus that it wasn’t going to happen. Jesus had often talked of eternal life and how could it be eternal if the giver of life were to die?

Jesus, however, knew exactly what was going to happen and why. He sternly told Peter to be quiet, that what he was saying was of Satan and not God. Jesus did not want Peter or anyone else to try to persuade Him that the cross was not necessary. What Jesus was about to do was God’s plan and it had to be done for the salvation of Peter and everyone else.

We need to strive to line up our ideas and plans with God’s. Before we say and do, we need to wait before the Lord to be sure that we are not doing things contrary to what God wants us to do. The reality is that most of us don’t do this very well. We are far more like Peter than we are Christ in this area. We would be much better off in life if we were to discipline ourselves to wait on the Lord to discern His way before we proceed with our way.

Ask the Lord to help you be more aware of God’s plan before you say and do.