Reasoning Seasoning… Peter's and ours...

When I read about Peter in the Bible, I have a mental image.  My imagination defines him a lot like the men around where I live:  God-fearing, decked out pickup with a Bible on the seat, and a rifle and fishing pole hanging in the back window.  Because as I read it, and by all biblical accounts, I find it apparent:  Peter was a “man’s man”.  He didn’t shy away from manual labor, or defending those he loved.  He was as “open book” as they come; straight forward and tell-it-like-you-see-it.  But early on he was guilty of “reasoned” speaking.  Check it out:

“Then Peter took Him (Jesus) aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, ‘Be it far from Thee, Lord:  this shall not be unto Thee.'”  Matthew 16:22

When the Lord took me to the passages in Matthew 16, I noticed something:  Peter wasn’t meaning to be used by Satan–he was just trying to back his guy.  Peter was responding out of a deep love and care for Jesus.  What Jesus had said didn’t make sense to Peter’s mind, so it couldn’t be true.

Peter was in desperate need of some “reasoning seasoning”.

You see, he was responding to God’s spoken Word as he would normally respond in his own life:  through strength and protectiveness.  After all, that was his “identity”, what he was “good at”, what he could “do”.  Jesus had just foretold the Truth, but in Peter’s mind he couldn’t just stand by and watch that happen.

“If it didn’t suit, it couldn’t be Truth”, seemed to be his thought process.  So Peter declared he would be willing to step up and protect Jesus’ life.  (Just in case you need more evidence that this was Peter’s “go-to” response, read his reaction, and Jesus’ response, in the garden in John 18:10.  i.e. He pulled out his sword and cut off a guy’s ear!)

Personally, I love Peter and his story.  He lived real.  He lived from the gut.  He was strong.  He was fearless and radical.  He LOVED Jesus.  And he was the only one, out of a boatload of twelve, who took that first step to walk on water.  He believed what Jesus told him then, why doubt His Word now?

Peter’s life, at this point, reflects SO MANY others in our day: bold and strong on the outside, loves Jesus to abandon, but still looking to their own arm for strength and protection.  Reasoning situations in their own abilities, and seeking self-direction and strength to avoid pain.  Saved, but carnal-minded.  Righteous, but not sanctified completely.  Ready, but not yet.  Truth is:  Peter had lessons to learn before he could go on and truly be all Jesus had foretold of him.  He had to learn to believe the Lord, and not trust in his own way.  He had to learn to live above what he could reason in his own mind, and TRUST God’s Word.  On that:  a lesson to us all.

“But He turned, and said unto Peter, ‘Get thee behind Me, Satan:  thou art an offense unto Me:  for thou are not mindful of the things that be of God, but those that be of men.'”  Matthew 16:23

I can’t imagine how taken aback and grieved Peter must have felt when he heard Jesus’ retort.  After all, he was just trying to offer his assistance,  a sincere willingness to defend the Lord in the face of imminent danger.  I’m sure he reasoned, “Can’t you see my heart?”   Yet the Lord turned to him and said, “Get thee behind me Satan”.  Ouch!  I sincerely doubt Peter perceived Satan was using him at that moment–in this zeal for protection of his Master–yet that was exactly what it was.  And God, Himself, called him out on it. Peter’s misaligned response was rooted in doubt and unbelief of the Truth that the Lord had just spoken.

“From that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples, how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day.”  Matthew 16:21

As heart-breaking as the words Jesus said to His disciples were, it was the Truth.  It was why He came.  He would complete His purpose, and His will would be done, even in the grimmest of circumstances.  Yet in Peter’s self-defined, well-meaning mind, that could not be “reasonable”.  He could not perceive that God’s will could look like that.  He reasoned: if he could do something to stop it, and base it in love, he would!  The problem was: he spoke before he wrestled his way of thinking into line with the Truth of God’s Word.  

What Truths are you reasoning away?  What Truth in His Word are you so unsure of you are willing to fight, or avoid, because you cannot reason God could have meant that?  Things may not always “look right” by our human reasoning–but God’s Word is TRUTH.  Are we willing to wrestle our thinking into line with His?  WE MUST.

“Then said Jesus unto His disciples, ‘If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.  For whosoever will save his life shall lose it:  and whosoever will lose his life for My sake shall find it.  For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?  or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?  For the Son of man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and then He shall reward every man according to his works.'”    Matthew 16:24-27

I love that the Lord does not leave us ignorant.  He told His disciples ahead of time what to expect.  Yes, they would suffer grief for a time, but He gave them hope, a promise for victory:  “raised again the third day”.   He foretold Peter of his denial.  He told them one of the twelve would betray Him.  He didn’t leave them without Truth to stand on–but how much did they believe?  How much did their brain dismiss?

After my mother was diagnosed with cancer, she told me something.  She said as she was praying one day for the Lord to heal her stomach pain, she heard Him sweetly say, “It’s time.  You’re dying.”  It was at that share of revelation, I understood why she had declined all extraordinary medical intervention and chose to simply live out the remainder of her days comfortably.  She chose not to fight the Truth.  She knew He could heal her.  She knew He would never leave her.  But she knew His voice.  So instead of anger and fear, she believed Him, and walked out her destiny.  Her brave decision stands as an example of “faith over fear” to me in that final episode of her life.

For most of us, God is not telling us our days are ending.  But He is telling us to grow up, grow deeper in  faith, and be willing to walk the narrow path.  It is His Word.  It is the only Truth.  He has foretold us of many things.  We must stop building “reason” walls and ask Him to “season” us into His perfect will.

Take time to study Peter’s life–it is extraordinary.  A few short days after the above all came to pass Peter was restored to fellowship, baptized by fire, and seen preaching to multitudes.  His shadow healed people as he walked down the street.  He wrote letters, sat as an earthly authority over the Way.  And he was crucified, just as Jesus had told him would happen.  Even in his most difficult time, he didn’t fight the Truth.  He humbled himself and requested to be crucified upside down, for he felt unworthy to die like his Master.

It would not be practical to quote all of Peter’s writings here.  But please ask the Holy Spirit to sit down with you as you read 1 and 2 Peter.  You will see a man changed:  not weaker by surrendering to Jesus, but stronger by believing God’s Word over self-reasoning and self-protection, and a race ran well by fully surrendering those gifts to the Master’s use.  🙂

In love for His TRUTH over us all,

Sheila