‘Lord, this cannot happen. This must never happen.’

 

 

It is the work of God that Jesus suffered many hardships,

was killed, and then rose again after three days.

However, the apostle Peter, who was thinking in terms of human matters, said,

“Lord, this can never be! Such a thing must never happen to You!” and tried to stop Jesus.

In response, Jesus rebuked Peter, saying, “Get behind Me, Satan!

You are a stumbling block to Me; you do not have in mind the concerns of God,

but merely human concerns” (Matthew 16:21-23).

Satan is constantly trying to make us think in terms of human concerns.

He causes us to not want to see our loved ones or those dear to us suffer

for the sake of Jesus and the gospel, or face even the threat of death.

As a result, we end up saying, “This should never happen!”

and we try to stop them from going through such suffering.