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Prepare Your Heart

To the best of your ability, get rid of all distractions. Take a few minutes to breathe deeply and quiet yourself in the Lord’s presence. Then, ask the Lord to speak to you in this time. Let Him know that you will listen and make whatever adjustments He will reveal to you.

Read God’s Word

Exodus 4:1-6:13
Matthew 16:13-28

A Verse for Today

Slowly and reflectively read the following verse(s) and listen to what God will say to you through His written Word. Consider writing down any insights He reveals to you.

Matthew 16:21-23 (CSB): “From then on Jesus began to point out to his disciples that it was necessary for him to go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, be killed, and be raised the third day. Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, ‘Oh no, Lord! This will never happen to you!’ Jesus turned and told Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.'”

Reflecting on God’s Word

Sometimes, we miss the meaning and feeling of a text if we only look at it through the eyes that have been informed by sermons and lessons on the text. But we might see so much more if we temporarily laid aside what we have heard and read about the text and tried to imagine ourselves as spectators watching the events for the first time.

So, imagine that you are a bystander who happens upon a conversation between Jesus and His disciples (our verses for today). You hear Jesus tell them that He is headed to Jerusalem, will suffer there, be killed, and rise again on the third day.

You are aghast! A metaphorical dark cloud immediately forms overhead as the mood instantly grows dark.

Then you hear the Apostle Peter speak up. But He doesn’t speak to Jesus in front of everyone. He pulls Jesus to the side as you strain to hear what he says. “Jesus, you aren’t going to die. I will personally make certain that it doesn’t happen. If anyone lays a finger on you, I’ll lay my finger on them!”

Everything inside of you wants to say, “Bravo!” You want to applaud Peter’s heroism. He’s stepping to the plate and will do whatever is necessary to protect Jesus. “Atta boy, Peter!”

And then you hear one more thing, and it comes from Jesus. As you watch, Jesus locks eyes with Peter. The disciple immediately realizes he has done something wrong. But what? And then Jesus opens His mouth and says: “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me because you’re not thinking about God’s concerns but human concerns.”

Wait?! What?!

Peter was being kind to Jesus. Then, Jesus looked at Peter and appeared to call him Satan. Peter’s mouth dropped open, and Peter, of all people, was at a loss for words. He couldn’t believe what Jesus had just said to him.

As we watch and listen, we are shocked, too! But Jesus didn’t technically call Peter “Satan.” Instead, Jesus was speaking to Satan, who was using Peter’s good intentions. Satan didn’t want Jesus to follow the Father’s will and go to the cross, so Satan used Peter’s kind, heroic heart in an attempt to get Jesus to back away from it.

From this, we learn that evil words don’t always look evil on the surface. Instead, they can look like kind-hearted words. But if we listen closely enough, those kind-hearted words encourage us to disobey the Lord’s will for our lives.

This thought should immediately cause us to crave the Holy Spirit’s filling every moment of every day. We are quite capable of saying things that we believe to be good, but our words could harm the cause of Christ, and we won’t even realize it.

So spend time in God’s Word, getting God’s Word into your mind and heart. Then live with a conscious dependence on God’s Holy Spirit each moment of every day. We don’t dare want to be used by Satan to undermine what God desires to do.

Spend Time in Prayer

  • Ask God to help you spend sufficient time in His Word, grow in your understanding of it, and make progress in developing a biblical mind.
  • Ask God’s Holy Spirit, who resides inside you if you are saved, to take charge of your life. Depend upon Him to lead you in everything you do and say.
  • Ask God to forgive you for any moment when you have been used as a tool of Satan, even if you never intended to be used in that way.

Going Deeper

If you want to dig a little deeper into Jesus’ words to Peter, consider reading the following GotQuestions article:

“Why did Jesus say to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan’?”

Sharing

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Matt Ellis is the pastor of First Baptist Church in Polk City, Florida (fbcpolkcity.com)