I think of this, Lord and wonder. I can't recall any place where you stopped someone from a course of action, or prayed for them to change it. And I wonder. I wonder because we spend a great deal of time praying to change someones behavior or choices or course of action. We labor over it. Especially when it is someone we love and we can see their direction leading to heartbreak, failure or other disaster. So we plead with You to change them. We spend a great deal of time in this prayer and pleading. But You never did this. Not once.
People were completely free to be whatever they wanted to be and You accepted that. And it wasn't that You didn't judge the course of their actions. You already knew those. You knew the results.
You knew what Judas was going to do and never once tried to talk to him, or explain to him the result of his actions. I understand that his role was fulfillment of prophesy. But he was still a person. As each of us are. And I think that in Your shoes, I would have tried to talk to him and save his soul.
After all, we are told that You don't want ANYONE to perish. We are told to "snatch people from the fire" and yet, You give us all such complete freedom of choice without berating, cajoling or otherwise trying to . . . manipulate . . . our choices.
When our emotions are all afire with panic, worry, and desperation to change the course of someone we love, Your response is to pray that AFTERWARD they will teach?
And that leads me to the next conclusion; the teaching. Obviously, this "teaching" is NOT to prevent situations from occurring in peoples lives. So, what would this "teaching" be?
I have contemplated the course of thoughts Peter must have experienced. I imagine the denial was a panic of sorts as he saw his Lord being lead away by soldiers. His mind was probably all ablur of thoughts and emotions. Why was the Lord being lead away by soldiers when He was the Savior of the world and could cause a thousand angels to save Him at any moment? What is the Lord doing? Is this it? Is He really going to die and come back in 3 days like He kept saying? Or was I wrong about Him? Was I wrong all along? What if He isn't the Messiah? Was I wrong?
I can see him facing a flood of questions from his own mind and it took (as we would say) a minute to process. But as Peter is processing, someone asks if he isn't a disciple. I imagine he just wanted to say "GO AWAY and leave me alone! I have to figure this out!"
Peter had experienced the Holy Spirit's revealing nature when he told Jesus that He was the Messiah, the Son of God. And he had experienced the divine power of God through his own hands as Jesus gave them the loaves and fishes to pass out to the people. Right in the Apostles hands the food multiplied AS they gave it away. Peter also witnessed dead raised, sick healed, seas calmed and every other miracle Jesus performed.
So in the end of his processing, the conclusion was firm. Jesus is the Messiah. And just because the Lord is being lead away by soldiers, and just because the situation looks grim; Jesus is still the Messiah. Nothing else matters. Whatever it looks like just doesn't matter. Jesus is the Messiah.
Finally, it is settled. The conflict and crisis is over in Peter's heart and mind. The matter has no more question. And the firm result is a revelation that can never change for Peter. He is now beyond ever questioning this result ever again. Nothing will ever shake this conclusion. Jesus is the Messiah.
The completeness of his Faith now transports him into a new level of understanding. And this understanding brings new power. This new conviction opens a new door. Nothing can stop his Faith from this vantage point.
As soon as Peter finishes denying the Lord 3 times, he immediately remembers the Lord told him this would happen. And Peter weeps bitterly. Afterward, his repentance is complete. And so is his Faith.
So, Jesus, You knew. You knew there was a tiny piece inside Peter that would flounder in the face of crisis. But You also knew that the process would bring Peter to the other side as a more complete Apostle. Therefore, You did not attempt to stop it from happening. You only prayed that afterward, Peter would teach his brethren.
What did he teach them? Oh, wait, I see it. He taught them the process of resolving every question in their mind until they came to the complete and whole Faith in their Messiah.
So when we pray and plead with You, Lord, to change the course of someones actions, are we really doing them a favor? Don't we all need to pursue every avenue in our heart to come to the conclusion that our Faith is complete and secure - or we have none? And OUR methods of convincing and cajoling someone into a course change actually becomes a manipulative disservice to them. Those questions are never firmly squared off; but instead we push them aside and let them free float in our lives until they surface in another area, and in another way.
*sigh*. So how do we stand aside and watch someone we love going down a wrong path? How do we only pray that "afterward" they will teach? How do we take our "hands" off? How do we not plead with the Lord to turn them and change them? How?
I only see one way, Lord. The same way You did it. You KNEW in Your Spirit what was going on, and You TRUSTED in the Father.
We have those same qualities in us. You live and dwell in us; we are a body wholly filled and flooded with God, Himself. We already have those same qualities. They are the perfection of Your Spirit in OUR Spirit which is already a NEW creature. The questions, the worry, the panic, the wondering; all those qualities are in our "soulish realm" which is our Mind, our Will and our Emotions; the one area left to us that is not yet redeemed.
But thank You, Lord we have Your Spirit. We can KNOW Your Will.
So, should we stop someone from making a horrible mistake? Your Spirit inside us, knows the answer.
1 comment:
Love It.. :)
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