The Night I Told God I Would…

Matt. 16:21-22 - 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 be raised up on the third day. 22 Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall never happen to You."   NASU
 

• Never Cry Again

 I was around 18 years old and an event happened in my life that caused me to be very unhappy. In fact, what happened caused me to cry. Now I never cried much up to that point in my life. In my mind God could have intervened and stopped this from happening but He didn't.
 
I remember looking up into the black sky and crying out "Fine, I will never cry again the rest of my life." I was basically challenging God. He did this and made me cry, and I was saying whatever You do to me from here on out will not make me cry. Please remember this is almost 6 years before I will become a Christian.
 
I can tell you now 54 years later I wish I would not have told God I was never going to do something.
 
Every time some thing happens that makes me cry I hear this voice in my head say, I thought you were never going to cry again. As you can see that hasn't worked out very well for me. 

• Peter Said Never

 Jesus had just informed the disciples what was going to happen to Him. He was going to suffer and die. Peter immediately takes Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him saying, "God forbid it, Lord! This shall NEVER happen to You."
 
Well, I am sure Peter meant well, but the truth of the matter was this is exactly what was going to happen to Jesus. Peter said, Never, but it did happen. 

• What About You?

 Have you ever said, "I will NEVER do some thing."?  I have read some of the funny things people said they would never do. One girl said, "She would NEVER date a certain guy." Then she ended up married to him.
 
They would NEVER eat some thing and then they did and now like it. They would NEVER go to that college and they did, or work at that place and they did.
 
Probably the one we all have said is that we would NEVER be like our parents. Yeah, we all know how that one ends. 

• Stop And Think

Before you say, "I will NEVER do some thing." You may want to stop and think. What if that is exactly what God wants you to do? What if that is where God needs you and that He has chosen you to be His vessel in that place at that time?
 
God is probably the only One who can say NEVER and mean it. In fact, He has said exactly that in Heb.13:5-6 …for He Himself has said, "I WILL NEVER DESERT YOU, NOR WILL I EVER FORSAKE YOU," 6 so that we confidently say, "THE LORD IS MY HELPER, I WILL NOT BE AFRAID. WHAT WILL MAN DO TO ME?"
 
This is one of the greatest promises we have from God. He will NEVER desert us and on that statement you can depend.
 
Think About These:
 
You're Never too old to set another goal or to dream a new dream.
 
The person who Never made a mistake Never tried anything new.
 
Never let it rest. Until your good is better and your better is best. 
 
Stay Pumped, 

Gary A. Serago

Minister of God's Word