In Tune With God
For most of Jesus’ three and one half years ministry, He opened to His disciple’s minds truths that they had not understood up until that time. Even as He opened their minds, their humanness often got in the way of full understanding. He taught them the strength of humility. He taught them the power of fasting and prayer. Most of all, He taught them the necessity of being led by the Holy Ghost. These truths were from God. They were outside of the natural prevue of human kind.
One of the most difficult truths Jesus taught them was the fact that a necessary step that must be taken on the road to their salvation was His own sacrifice. This was particularly troubling because it was against pride. It was against all that they had in their minds about how Messiah would come and destroy the yoke of Roman rule, and restore Israel to her former glory. They aspired to worldly greatness and the death of Christ did not fit into their plan for such greatness. He taught them that it was not about their view of greatness. All that was necessary to bring about salvation must come through the humility and sacrifice of Jesus.
The time had come. All that He prophesied concerning His betrayal and death was about to occur in quick succession. “Then cometh he to his disciples, and saith unto them, Sleep on now, and take your rest: behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going: behold, he is at hand that doth betray me. And while he yet spake, lo, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and staves, from the chief priests and elders of the people.” Matthew 26:45-47. As the mob approached Jesus to lay hands on Him, Peter drew his sword and cut off one of the men’s ears. “Then said Jesus unto Peter, Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it?” John 18:11.
In this single, quick event, we learn a valuable lesson from Christ. There are instances when God is allowing adversity to come into our lives, and many of us fight against it. When the trials are for the greater good of ourselves as well as others, we often resist as did Peter. If Peter had been in tune with the voice of God, He would never have attempted to save Jesus from betrayal. He would never have drawn his weapon.
When trials come our way, instead of fighting against them, we should have the attitude of Christ. We should accept the trials as having been tempered by God, and trust that He has them all under control. He always has our best interest at heart. May the Lord help us to be more like Jesus in every way.
