Based on John 13:31-38 (New King James Version)
“So, when he had gone out, Jesus said, ‘Now the Son of Man is glorified, and God is glorified in Him. If God is glorified in Him, God will also glorify Him in Himself, and glorify Him immediately. Little children, I shall be with you a little while longer. You will seek Me; and as I said to the Jews, ‘Where I am going, you cannot come,’ so now I say to you. A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.’ Simon Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, where are You going?’ Jesus answered him, ‘Where I am going you cannot follow Me now, but you shall follow Me afterward.’ Peter said to Him, ‘Lord, why can I not follow You now? I will lay down my life for Your sake.’ Jesus answered him, ‘Will you lay down your life for My sake? Most assuredly, I say to you, the rooster shall not crow till you have denied Me three times.’”
Do you know how things will work out for you? Maybe some of you might say: “Of course, because they are going according to my plans!” And yes, that’s true. Some plans do work out for some of us. I have met people that cannot live without making plans; plans for their personal life, for their careers, for their finances, for almost everything in their lives, even how many children they will have and how long they will wait between one and the other. There are women that plan their weddings ahead of time. They already have thought about the dress they will wear and its style, where they are going to get married, who they are going to invite, and even where their guests are going to sit in the banquet hall they already have in mind. There are many people with many plans, and some work out. I’m not saying that it’s bad to have plans, as long as they are plans that are prepared with good motives.
Now then, if plans do work out for some people, even though they are plans with good motives, are they the best in the long run? There are folks that might say: “My plans are what’s best for me because I know what I’m doing.” And there I would say, “Be careful, because your arrogance will take you somewhere you never thought you would be, sooner or later! For example, Simon Peter went through that lesson, which is the first thing we will see in this passage. Peter had very good motives. For starters, he wasn’t thinking about vain or selfish things. He had left everything for the Lord. He left his job, his daily life, and even his family to follow Him; so we are talking about someone that had very good motives. But Peter failed; He failed in his plan and determination, because he did deny the Lord just as it was said. In the moment that the Lord was arrested, when Peter saw that things were not going to happen the way he thought they would (through human strength, because he did cut Malcolm’s ear when trying to defend the Lord), Peter fled. And after fleeing, he did deny the Lord, to avoid getting into trouble. Why did Peter fail? Did the Lord sentence him to fail? No. He failed because he trusted in that things would be resolved through his strength and by what he thought, and that arrogance made him fail. And of course, God knows everything, and He knew that even though Peter had good intentions, those intentions were founded on the flesh. And thank God Peter failed, because if he would have freed the Lord, he would have destroyed himself and us. Our arrogance and dependence on carnal things will only bring pain, especially if they are obstacles to what God wants to accomplish. So then, if everything turns out the way you want them, I suggest a lot of caution, because you might be creating your own destruction, especially if you are leaving God aside, because no human plan takes into consideration God’s design, nor the eternal good, even though everything goes smoothly. And where you should have the most caution is when every carnal plan goes well, without any problems; because it is not God that is prospering them. Satan’s perfect plan is to make you think that you don’t need God, and that you can achieve what is best for you without Him. So then, be careful if all goes well (humanly speaking)!
Now, the other side of the coin. What happens when things don’t turn out the way you would like them to? What happens when you find yourself in a completely unknown situation where your plans failed? I think that every human being is affected negatively when things turn out wrong. No one likes to find themselves in a problematic or chaotic situation. What we least desire is the unpredictable. For example, and as we read today, how could the Lord have been glorified when someone was going to put into effect their plan to betray Him? What good could come out of the Master being betrayed, judged unfairly, humiliated, whipped, publicly scorned, crucified, and killed? Humanly speaking, it makes no sense, right? Is it logical (seeing it from the disciples’ eyes) to see the One where you put your faith on in such a weak and humiliating state? If it was a problem to the majority of the Lord’s disciples then, it is certainly an issue today (because that’s how people continue seeing Jesus). The majority of people associate glory and success, and God’s blessing with power, riches, well-being, happiness; in summary, with everything man desires. And the majority of times, when things turnout backwards, or even when we could be doing good for the Lord, unpredictable things will happen. Things that we don’t understand will occur. And this is the explanation we need to cling to: “‘For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,’ says the Lord. ‘For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts.’” Isaiah 55:8-9. So then, if we are doing the Lord’s will and things don’t turn out the way we think they should, we should cling to the notion that God is doing something better, even though our situation doesn’t look so good.
I have to be honest. I know that it causes frustration when we don’t see our prayers answered like we would want, or that we can find ourselves in tough situations, even when doing things right. We all go through that. But, by having faith, and letting time go by, I have been able to see that what I was asking for was not the best, and that God used for the good of many things a difficult or hard situation. And there have been many times that I have actually thanked God for not answering certain prayers, or that certain things did not go the way I would have wanted them to go. God’s will, even though it is incomprehensible many times, renders better results where many are helped. This is the logic we see through this passage, by understanding the entire plan. If the Lord would not have died, and He would have remained in the state His disciples wanted and desired Him to be, neither they would have had the gift of salvation, nor us. Human destiny would have remained intact, which is winding up in hell. But blessed be the Lord that He went beyond human logic, beyond fulfilling the desires of the few so He could save all of us that follow Him!
This finally is the point: “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to His purpose.” Romans 8:28. My counsel to you (and it’s what I try to keep in mind also) is: Have faith and love God, and let Him guide you; and everything, even what is unpredictable, hard, and unknown will work together for good in the end. Lord bless! John