Mark Chapter 8: Verses 31-33 (NLT Version)
Then Jesus began to tell them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but three days later he would rise from the dead. As he talked about this openly with his disciples, Peter took him aside and began to reprimand him for saying such things.
Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, then reprimanded Peter. “Get away from me, Satan!” he said, you are seeing things merely from a human point of view, not from God’s.”
Jesus never sugar-coated how difficult things would be for His disciples, and He even openly discussed what awful things would happen to Him. Sometimes the truth is hard to bear, and we don’t want to accept it. I can only imagine what the disciples would be thinking – and only Peter, as ever, felt brave enough to voice. “But look at all the good You are doing; at all the people’s lives You are changing. God, Your Father would never allow such bad things to happen to You.” All these arguments seem perfectly reasonable to us, but God had bigger and more far-reaching plans than the disciples could ever have thought, and they did not yet understand. Peter felt justified in saying what he did because he couldn’t yet grasp the long-term picture. He was only concerned with the immediate circumstances. The devil sometimes makes what seems right and reasonable much more realistic and even achievable, rather than the way God wants us to go, which might sometimes seem more difficult to us. But God’s way is ALWAYS better, and that’s why we need to keep our focus and keep our eyes on the right road. And that’s the warning that Jesus gave to Peter.
Dear Lord,
Sometimes I do get fooled into taking what seems a reasonable course, but its not the way You want me to go. Help me to keep my feet on the right path, even if at times it seems difficult and rocky. Help me to trust Your word which is a light to my feet. I ask in Jesus’ Name. Amen.