Surely Not Lord

"Surely not, Lord!" Peter replied. "I have never eaten anything impure or unclean." The voice spoke to him a second time, "Do not call anything impure that God has made clean." (Acts 10:14-15)

Do you feel comfortable saying “no” to God? We might not have the ability to admit it but we each say “no” to God in some way. Sometimes we say “no” by choosing to not witness. Sometimes we say “no” by refusing to volunteer. Sometimes we say “no” by ignoring the prompting of our heart. But most of the time we say “no” because we refuse to accept His will for our lives. In Matthew 16:13, Jesus asked His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?" The disciples answered His question by stating what others think about Him. Then He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?" Simon Peter is the only one who answered and said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." Jesus acknowledged to Peter that God, Himself, had revealed that to him. I am sure that Peter had a large smile on his heart after that compliment. A few passages later, Jesus begins to explain that He will have to suffer. Peter again was the only one who spoke up as he disagreed with God’s plan, taking the liberty to rebuke the Lord. Matthew 16:22-23
says, ‘Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!" But He turned and said to Peter, "Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.’ Peter had gone from a place of esteem to a place of rebuke. Here in Acts 10, we find Peter disagreeing with God again as he says, “Surely not, Lord.” If you have a relationship with God, you will find yourself at opposite ends with Him on many issues. This is normal. We are flesh and our natural born nature rebels against the Lord at times. God can handle whatever position you take and He wants to reason with you about your position. Talk to Him and be honest. The problem comes when we place our thoughts and desires over God’s thoughts and ways to a point of "rebuking the Lord." We may not have the boldness to tell Him we think He is wrong but our actions show the thoughts and intents of our hearts as we choose to not submit or yield or even listen to what He is trying to say. God’s ways do not make sense to us and His thoughts are not our thoughts. That is why it is so important to have an open, honest relationship with Him based on His words. We have to align up with Him. I respect Peter greatly. He was a man who had an honest relationship with God. His rebukes were not respectful but he kept himself in a position to keep listening until his will lined up with God’s will. What is the Lord trying to tell you today? Are you going through a set of circumstances that you refuse to acknowledge is God’s will for your life? Are you fighting or submitting? Are you willing to listen or are you running? Pray with me that by the end of the day, we are on God’s side. When it comes down to it, He is going to win. I want to be on His team.