"The Hope Of His Child" - 3

"Foolishness is bound in the heart of a child; but the rod of correction shall drive it far from him." (Proverbs 22:15) Another way to look at this ordeal that Peter had to go through, is that of correction. For, he needed to learn something very important about not only who Jesus really was, but who he was also. God will use our strengths for His glory, but He will use them through Him, and not through us: What does that mean? Basically, this means that we must be trained up by the Lord; to trust in the Lord to work through us, without depending upon our own abilities, but upon His. For example: Peter was a fisherman, this is what he was good at; yet God made him to be a 'Fisher of men'. Moses was a leader, and a city builder; God made him to be a leader and a builder of the Nation of Israel. Paul was a 'Go Getter'; God made him to be a man that was determined to Preach the Gospel, and to 'Go Get' the Gentiles into the Kingdom of God. This is what our Father does, He will use our strengths for His Kingdom; but He will first train us up in His ways, and not in the way we are accustomed to. To do this, He will first make us to be dependent upon Him, which requires that we first learn how weak we really are. Much like what Peter had to experience with his denial of the Lord. He needed to learn a very important lesson in humility, because he was proud; and it was because of his pride, that he denied the Lord. Because he did not truly understand what Jesus was doing, and why He must die, he was lead by pride to deny knowing Jesus; as if there was something wrong with what Jesus was doing, and why He was doing it the way He was. In other words; Peter did not want to accept that Jesus would go to His death without a fight, because his view of who Jesus was, was that of a conqueror; the Messiah, that would free the children of Israel from bondage. For many that were alive at that time, this was the concept of what the Messiah would come and do; and for the Messiah to lay down His life, just did not make sense to those that held this belief. Yet, after Jesus rose from the grave, it all made sense; and for Peter, he came to understand all that Jesus had been telling him over last three years. This is the 'Hope of His child'; to be enlightened in the things of Him; to be corrected in his thinking; to be brought to a place where they are now dependant upon God for guidance, and not upon their own way of thinking... "When I was a child, I spake as a child, I understood as a child, I thought as a child: but when I became a man, I put away childish things." (1 Corinthians 13:11)