Mathhew 16:21-28 (Assisting Satan...Are You?)

²¹ From that time on Jesus began to explain to his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and on the third day be raised to life.
 ²² Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him. “Never, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to you!”
 ²³ Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.”
 ²⁴ Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. ²⁵ For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it. ²⁶ What good will it be for a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷ For the Son of Man is going to come in his Father’s glory with his angels, and then he will reward each person according to what he has done. ²⁸ I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”

Did you realize that even as Christians, we can be a stumbling block to the gospel and Jesus Christ?  It amazes me here that Peter, who would soon become one of the greatest Bible teachers and writers, would be called, by Christ, a stumbling block!  I think that would be the worst -- to hear Jesus say to me, that I am being used against Him!  Notice, he doesn't use Peter's name though.  Peter says the words to Jesus, but then Jesus rebukes satan.  If you have committed your life to Christ, you belong to Christ and have His spirit within you.  So how can satan be using us?  He whispers in our minds and hearts.

Remember what satan did in the Garden to Eve?  God had distinctly commanded her to not eat from the tree.  And what did satan do?  He got her to question what God said.  In Genesis 3:1, we read, 
"Now the serpent was more crafty than any of the wild animals the LORD God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, ‘You must not eat from any tree in the garden’?”  See, he places a question in our minds, and instead of remembering what we KNOW, we begin to wonder if we've been wrong all this time.  Thus, what happened to Peter.  When Jesus tells him that He will be killed by the officials, Peter questions with, "Never, Lord.  This shall never happen to You."  Or as the Message says, "Impossible!"  I wonder if it's with somewhat of an arrogant tone because, though the Lord never sinned, He was tempted.  Perhaps, Jesus, knowing who He was and the power He had, was tempted by pride to think it was above Him for these things to happen, or perhaps He was just dreading the pain and separation from God He would experience.  Regardless, Jesus was tempted to believe something, and satan used Peter to stir that temptation in Jesus.  We think Peter's motives must have been somewhat good, because I'm sure Peter would have preferred that Jesus not die; He loved Him!  So how can this be so terrible?

I love how The Message puts the next few verses.  Compare them to the NIV translation above (verses 24-26), "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat; I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What kind of deal is it to get everything you want but lose yourself? What could you ever trade your soul for?" 

When everything within us cries out, "No!", we must remember that God's plans are larger than ours.  Sometimes His plans include death:  death of a loved one, death of a job, death of an addiction, death of a dream.  But His plans are ALWAYS plans to prosper us, give us hope and a future (Jer. 29:11).  Satan will try to whisper in our ears, "You can't live without that.  What does God think He is doing?  You are not going to make it without that."  But those are the lies we believe.  When we are stuck in what is being taken away, we are not walking forward in the plan God has for us as individuals and as all of humanity.

When my mom died, and even still two years later, I will occasionally have a thought pop in my head that I'm beginning to recognize:  it's the whispers of satan.  He causes me to question God's goodness and love.  Just this Saturday, my dad re-married.  He married a lovely woman named Jackie, and I can see the excitement and joy all over my dad's face.  Jackie and her 13 year-old son are just as much a part of God's plan as I am.  I still miss my mom terribly, I can't even describe it.  But more than ever, I am beginning to also see how God can redeem and restore that which was lost (my mom).  More and more, I sense that God is not just doing something for Dad, Jackie, and her son, in giving them to each other, but God is also doing something for ME!  I have grown tremendously in my relationship with the Lord in the past two years, and even more in the past six months because in my questions God has given me the faith to turn to the Lord (thankfully) rather than something else.  I know that losing my mom is not what I would have chosen, but I also see the goodness of the Lord in my life as I'm learning life lessons and more about my relationship with the Lord than I would have if she were still here.  I truly believe that!  When I was meeting with a mentor of mine this past week, she said, "Molly, if your mom could have seen the growth in you in these past years as she was still lying on her death bed, I believe she would have willingly said, 'I will die so that Molly will come to know the Lord in that way'."  I believe so, too!  It has been and continues to be a refining process in my life.  The flames do hurt sometimes, but I believe that I am seeing the goodness of the Lord in the midst of the flames.  I am letting go of the plans I had for my own life, which included having my mom around for another 50+ years, in order that I might have the Lord's plans and purposes in my life.

Where are you today, loved one?  What do you need to let go of in order to not be a stumbling block in what God wants to do in your life and in the lives of the people around you?  My prayer for you this morning is that you would not believe the whispers of the evil one in your head and question the Lord's plan for you.  He LOVES you, dear one.  "We know that in all things, God works for the good of those who love Him, who are called according to His purposes" (Romans 8:28).  In ALL things, He is working for the GOOD.  It might be work according to HIS purposes and not ours, but regardless, it is for YOUR good.  Can you believe that today?

In the above verses, Jesus tells us that if we want to follow Him, we have to deny ourselves (I wanted mom to stay here, just as Peter didn't want Jesus to die).  We have to deny our desires!  We have to lose the plans we have for our own life, in order that we might find true life and joy in Him.  It's true, my friends.  And we don't need to be going after the things of this world which gain us nothing, but just steal our soul!  This is the design He has for us, and may I assure you, it is GOOD.

Let go of it.  Trust your Lord who loves you.  Then get ready...He is going to do something big that you wouldn't believe even if you were told!  (Habakkuk 1:5)