God's Plan

It's crazy how much faith it takes to really be a follower of Jesus sometimes. I was thinking about when Jesus was being arrested. Up until then, the disciples had been following him so closely and desiring to see His power fully manifested. We see this when Jesus would tell them of His coming death and they would have nothing to do with it. Peter was thinking that there was no way he was going to let that happen. They had seen Jesus perform miracle after miracle on top of knowing the prophecies of the Messiah--how He was going to be this great conqueror of the nations. I can only imagine that they were going along with this peace making gig, but soon Jesus was going to really exercise His amazing power and start ruining some people.

But, that's not how Jesus did things. In fact, when it came to Jesus' arrest, Peter was carrying his sword and swiped off the ear of the high priest's slave. It was like Jesus had told them some big stuff was going to happen so Peter picked up his battle equipment and was ready for war. That's not an official scholarly opinion or anything, but judging by his decision here and then denying Christ later that night, it seems as if his attitude changed when he started to think that Jesus wasn't going to be what Peter thought He was going to be. It seems for a brief moment that his faith started to waiver.

I can see the same thing in my life though. There are these times when I feel at the top of the faith ladder and that God is doing exactly what He's supposed to do as far as I'm concerned. And I'm thinking that if any hard times fall that He's there about to show His true power in the way that I think it should come. It's like I'm waiting on Him to show that warrior, Messiah power in my life to not just help my faith, but establish it with the proof in His power. But, time after time, His abundance of power comes in such a different way than I expect. I'm caught off guard and sometimes even wonder if this is really Him, because it's not how I would have did things, and after all, He can read my mind, so why not do it the way I want.

But, God's glory is so much greater. And, eventually, Peter would see this and change his focus again. I guess that's part of the Christian life. Discovering God in so many new ways. Waiting for His presence and getting so much more. Even if pain is there longer than we want, He's still going to be there somehow.