What Made the Difference? - Harriett Ford It has always puzzled me how Solomon, the king with great supernatural wisdom, loved women and built temples to their foreign gods. He made God very angry. How could Solomon do that? The pleasures of the flesh?
Samson’s great supernatural strength did not save him from yielding to temptation. Why?
The disciple, Peter, received a supernatural revelation that Jesus is the Messiah. He was there to see Jesus transfigured on the mountain. He was the only one who walked on water. Yet Peter actually cursed and denied Jesus. He claimed he never knew “the man.”
“I never knew you.” Those are the very words Jesus used when He spoke of people claiming they had done many things in His name: “Depart from me, you workers of iniquity.” On the surface, it appears He could have justly said those words to Peter!
How merciful is our Lord? He did NOT speak those words to Peter. Why? He did not even chastise Peter for his denial. Instead, He gently reminded Him to “feed my sheep.” He looked into the heart of Peter and saw LOVE there.
Supernatural wisdom and walking miraculously with the Lord do not necessarily mean a person will never fall into sin. Jesus taught us to pray, “. . . lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from the evil one.” Matt. 6: 13 (NAS).
No matter how wise or gifted we are, we still have to deal with the sin nature.
However, when we fail, we are promised forgiveness, like Peter who said, “Lord, You know I love You.” We set our hearts to obey because we love Him.
Thank you, Father, for new mercy every morning. I used up yesterday’s mercy. Forgive me. Amen.
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