RECALCULATING
Do you ever have things that happen that makes you wonder about the outcome? Over the Easter church services, it was mentioned several times about Peter denying the Lord three times. In John 13: 36-38 we read that Jesus told Peter what was to come.
36 Simon Peter said to Him, “Lord, where are You going?”
Jesus answered him, “Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.”
37 Peter said to Him, “Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.”
38 Jesus answered him, “Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.
Jeremiah 1: 4-5
4 The word of the Lord came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
Jeremiah 29: 11-14
11 For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. 12 Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. 13 You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart. 14 I will be found by you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back from captivity. I will gather you from all the nations and places where I have banished you,” declares the Lord, “and will bring you back to the place from which I carried you into exile.”
Ahh, the Lord has “plans.” That is completely different from it being written in stone. I have made plans before and mapped out every possible way to achieve my goal. However, just because I made the plan to get to the desired goal that doesn’t mean that everything was going to go according to plans. It also doesn’t mean that I won’t still reach my goal, there just might have to be some adjustments made to the plan.
I bet everyone has used a GPS device of some nature. You type in your destination and hit GO. Then you can just sit back and relax because the GPS is going to navigate for you. BUT, I also bet that every one of you has made a wrong turn, missed a turn, or the turn you were supposed to make was under construction and you had to take a detour. That is when you will hear the voice say, “recalculating.” In just a few minutes you are continuing on your way with the end destination still being the same, you are just now going to be taking a different route.
Peter was the rock, the one on whom the Lord was going to build His church. But, Peter was human and had fears just like me. Just like Peter, I am going to mess up. I am going to say the wrong thing, I am going to choose the wrong path, and I am going to disappoint myself and the Lord. But, that doesn’t mean that the Lord is going to call it quits on me. The Lord still used Peter and I hope He will still use you and I even if we make mistakes. I don’t care if the Lord is a Chessmaster or if He is my guidance system. As long as He gets me to my destination I am going to be thrilled!
Have a Blessed Day!
God is omniscient, which means He sees all, including the future. Peter did have free will, but Jesus knew what he would do, just as he foresaw Judas’ betrayal and his own death on a cross. The tougher question is whether we can change what God foresees. I’m afraid I don’t know the answer to that one
Thank you for being such an inspiration, both spiritually and being the fashionista that you are.
I love how you would like to think that God is in complete control of your life. I do as well. Love your spiritual message.
Love your thoughts today