Episode #94 Confession to Confusion with Simon Peter, Understanding God Part 3- Noticing God

Hi, friends, thank you so much for joining me. Whether you're tuning in from that car pickup line or on your commute to work or as you pick up the kitchen and put away laundry, these few minutes are set aside to help you engage with God in an everyday moment.

And this time is well spent. So thank you, for inviting me into this space with you as you connect with God. Today, we're continuing in this series of noticing God in scripture. And I'm really excited about the story that I'm sharing with you today from the life of Simon Peter we're looking at the invitation that God extends to us to know Him and to understand—to understand things about God, to understand things in His Word, and the awareness of how much we're dependent on God to bring revelation to us, to bring us understanding.

Simon Peter is a really great example of that, and you don't have to take my word for it. I'm going to jump right in and start reading for us. This is Matthew 16 and I'll be reading verses 13 through 17.

“Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ Simon Peter replied, ‘You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.’ And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.’” (Matthew 16:13-17)

So first off, way to go, Peter! Simon Peter nailed it. He didn't rely on what other people said. And not only does Simon Peter have the right answer, but he’s also commended by Jesus because the answer he gives didn't come from Peter's own intellect.

It didn't come from Peter's own understanding.
It came from God's revelation.

“Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.”

For a lot of my years in the faith, I didn't know that God could bring revelation to us. I depended only on my own understanding. And I poured through scripture, and I memorized verses because I was trying to earn God's approval. And I missed this invitation that God extends to all of us to receive revelation from God.

The flesh and blood I depended on was different in different seasons. Sometimes I depended simply on myself, what I could figure out in scripture, what I could study or read about. I've depended on pastors telling me what God is saying instead of taking that into conversation with God. I've depended on other Bible teachers, on books or resources or videos online to be God's voice in my life instead of putting those resources in their rightful place and asking God to bring his revelation to me through them and beyond those things.

I love this here because God gives this revelation to Simon Peter. And then Simon steps in it, skipping down a little bit further in the same chapter, verses 21-23.

“From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, ‘Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.’ But he turned and said to Peter, ‘Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.’” (Matthew 16:21-23)

Just a few verses earlier, Simon Peter has this tremendous moment where he, gets to proclaim, Jesus, you are the Christ, you are the Messiah, you are the son of the living God, and then Simon Peter interacts with Jesus in a way that is contradictory to that proclamation he just made.

Now, Simon Peter may not like that I like this passage so much, but I am so encouraged by this because I do this too.
Even as we grow in understanding, we can still get things wrong.

I can be growing in relationship with God and mishear him and misunderstand things that he says and misunderstand who he is. Peter had this revelation of Jesus as the Messiah but maybe he misunderstood what that meant. Maybe the idea of Jesus dying for our sins was contradictory to what Simon Peter assumed it would mean that Jesus was the Messiah. Or maybe it was just difficult for him to understand or wrap his mind around or something he wouldn't want to happen to his beloved Jesus. I don't know exactly what motivators he had here, but I do know that he clearly had a revelation from God. And also responded to Jesus incorrectly.

This gives me encouragement because as we're growing in our knowledge and our understanding of God and his word, he is not undone by our limitations. He is still not undone by our missteps. He will bring correction. He will bring instruction. He will keep maturing us. We can keep going and knowing God more. He never turns us away.
One of the practices that I try to implement when I'm talking with God about different things is asking Him more questions. And one of my go to questions is, “God, what else does this mean?” Okay, I think I have this understanding from you. What does this look like? What else do you want to tell me about this? What is my response here?

So consider something that God has revealed to you. Maybe there's something specific going on in your life, or maybe it's even the same revelation that Simon Peter had, that Jesus is the Christ, that he is our Savior. And ask him this question,

God, thank you for this revelation. What else does this mean?

I know there's more that he wants to show you.

Have a good talk.

And if you've been encouraged by this content, please share it with a friend and help them grow in their conversational relationship with God too!

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