Friday 23 November, 2012

The thing that stands out to me in this passage is that Peter has a full-on trance and vision from God and is given some very specific instructions from God. You’d think that Peter would be so over-awed by this experience that he would readily obey w

hatever God is asking. Not so.

Peter actually has the audacity to say “no way!” to God. In fact, God even has to repeat Himself three times to ask the same thing and yet Peter still says “by no means, Lord” – three times!

Peter, obviously thought he knew better than God on this one. The funny thing is that calling someone “Lord” means that you are prepared to do whatever they ask. So “by no means, Lord” is really not a logical or acceptable answer.

Yet, it turns out that God did actually know better than Peter (how surprising!) on this one. The end result of what God asked Peter to do, and what Peter eventually came around to doing was to open up the Gospel to the gentiles, since previously they had only been focusing on the Jews. This had far reaching implications and changed the world forever. We can be grateful that Peter finally decided to obey God!

So how often do we say “no way” to God? It seems rather obvious to say this, but God actually does know better than us, so saying yes to God is really the only intelligent response.

Lord, help me to truly have you as my Lord in my readiness to obey You – even when I don’t understand or necessarily want to obey. Thank you that You see the big picture. I want my life to make a difference for eternity, so help me to not just walk the easy path, but to walk the path that You have called me to.

Written by Shelley Witt