The Peter Problem

Post 216

Theologically we all wrestle with properly applying the scripture in a right and real way. This is the motive of all the doctrinal controversy and is the number one frustration of all genuine followers of God. In earnest desire to walk in a way that pleases God we stumble and trip in the unknown and cry out in frustration to God; “What am I supposed to do here?”

Frustrate: [Latin frustrates, past particle of frustrare to deceive, frustrate] 1. To prevent from attaining a purpose; balk. 2. To bring to nothing; defeat; baffle; also, to nullify.

Why is it that God designed it this way? Or perhaps better asked; Is this the way God designed it, or are we simply living in the corruption of the system God designed to be different than it is now?
As is common to concepts beyond our comfortable reach, the scripture suggests by a plethora of inference and even declares directly that we are to understand the truth of God from the tangible system he gave us.

“For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; Because that which may be known of God is manifest 5319 in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.” Romans 1:18-20
manifest 5319 phaneroo; ...to render apparent...

“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth…” Deuteronomy 4:32- (also Acts 14:15b-17)
So by the suggested observation we see by the pattern of life itself that mankind is born a fully ignorant and helpless child who then spends his life learning to be able beyond who he was the day before.
Along the way he is able to share with those less learned that which he has acquired while he continues to learn what he himself does not yet know.
So we see that the process is indeed the design of God while what the individual has or can acquire may be reduced by the corruption of those sharing with him, this is also verified by scripture;

“When thou shalt beget children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves… and shall do evil in the sight of the LORD thy God, to provoke him to anger: I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day… ye shall not prolong your days upon it, but shall utterly be destroyed.” Deuteronomy 4:25-26
Obviously by the duration shown, this is speaking generationally to a people where the children are destroyed by the corruptions that progressively accumulate generation by generation.
The children suffer the consequences of learning error to the resulting anger of the LORD by those generations that precede them, but growing up in the error they ignorantly accept the resulting displeasure of God as normal and add error to error for the next generation. In this way the later children who suffer beyond a willingness to bear it eventually cry out to God in frustration asking for the right way which they cannot see because of being misguided through generations of error.

“When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt be obedient unto his voice; (for the LORD thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee…” Deuteronomy 4:30-31

But we typically don’t seriously investigate how this works. We assume that when I finally get to the place that I really don’t like anymore, I decide to become a Christian and God magically makes everything all better.
But this is not the pattern we see from reality which the scriptures declare is how we discover the understanding that is hidden from us by our ignorance. Human history shows that changes come by understanding of gained knowledge and again scripture shows this to be true as we continue the passage.

“For ask now of the days that are past, which were before thee, since the day that God created man upon the earth…” Deuteronomy 4:32

The depth of this verse is profound as it allows us to apply this to every area of knowledge to any depth we desire to investigate, including the archeological investigation of the way things were designed to be from the beginning; such as palm trees buried under the frozen tundra of northern Alaska or the previous environment that resulted in huge volumes of oil buried beneath the sands of the Middle East. ‘Ask of the days that are past’ means to investigate the times before your current environment today and even before you were born; “What was it like in ‘the old days?’ and why did things change for better or worse?” This is the pattern of learning which changes our ableness, that we see explained in the lifecycle of an ignorant helpless child to an able adult.

We can learn from history, and in fact God declares that we should, if we want to learn how to end the undesirable conditions of life we face at any given point in time, even specifically the really hopeless conditions that occur in the latter days! (v.30, Hosea 3:5)
But God gives us a head start in our confusion of where and how to begin looking through history for the answer;

“But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul.” Deuteronomy 4:29

So we see by example of life and by direction of scripture that God designed the system that cause-and-effect occur at all times, and he intentionally designed it that we begin in utter ignorance to then progressively gain understanding which can change the cause and therefore get a different effect. Further we see that the degree of cause-and-effect is compounded through generations in a linear progression by instruction and “passed-down” understanding or the lack thereof.
Yet we are mercifully shown that we can significantly jump locations on the linear path of generational understanding by seeking the LORD directly and asking the distant past. The text seems to indicate that the asking of the past will point us to God whom we are to seek as available wisdom outside our available linear sources of error (current educators).
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OK, But this post is about those who have sought God with all their heart, it is asking why is the system designed by God to frustrate us by what we don’t yet understand? Why did God make children so vulnerably empty to be directly and helplessly affected by the condition of (possible) error in their parents?
Theologically we all wrestle with properly applying the scripture in a right and real way. This is the motive of all the honest doctrinal controversy and is the number one frustration of all genuine followers of God. In earnest desire to walk in a way that pleases God we stumble and trip in the unknown and cry out in frustration to God for understanding; “What am I supposed to do here?”

What is the point of making learning difficult? Why not just be born with all knowledge? Why did Peter not have what he needed to succeed in his walk to the Lord on the water?

The answer itself is both frustrating and enlightening:
If we had all knowledge we would not need God; we would BE God. Since we are not God and CANNOT be God, it is impossible to have all knowledge. This is why we need God; because we are not God. The very failure of understanding that causes the cry; “What am I supposed to do here?” is the thing that keeps our face turned toward God. The learning process is what keeps us facing the direction of learning. If we had all that we needed to know we would have nowhere to face toward and no cause to motivate the turning.
I believe that Peter HAD to fail in his endeavor. It was not exactly “sin” that caused him to fail and the failure itself was not sin in the willful aspect. It was a lack of understanding, it was the fact that he was not God (by definition sin is to miss the mark - I John 1:7-8).
Peter, more than the other disciples, was closest to the understanding of “all things are possible with God” (Matthew 19:26), but still he was lacking and needed to cry out to Jesus for rescue.
So how is it that Peter started out in good shape at all? Because without thinking of all the other factors, he began his venture with one thought; Going to the Lord. THIS is the secret of success because it contains two needful factors;

1st - It seeks the LORD as the singular perfect goal of the effort.
2nd - It comprehends that I am not the source of the power to succeed.

As long as these two factors are in place I believe there is no limit to the possible success of the mission, but the purpose of the “able wind” that drives the frustrating sea is to confuse our awareness of these two factors.
So while Peter got off target by beginning to think completion of the walk to Jesus was the goal, instead of to Jesus, he deviated from these factors and began to sink.
Peter HAD to fail or there would be no need for Jesus to be standing there for him to go to.
Once Peter failed and cried out to Jesus, his environment of cause and effect quickly reorganized his thinking and the two factors returned; “And immediately Jesus stretched forth his hand, and caught him…” Matthew 14:31
Once he was in Jesus’ personal care we are so confident in Jesus that we don’t even bother to consider how Peter made it back to the boat! We just naturally assume with a lack of wonder that the two walked back to the boat and climbed aboard as if it was no miracle at all. Peter did so because those two factors were then securely established while in the presence of Jesus; Peter no longer struggled with “properly playing his part of walking” and simply was “with the Lord”. I liken this to breaking the very turbulent sound barrier to then find virtually no turmoil at all as the violent air flows harmlessly around the plane to crash violently behind it as you are beyond "hearing the forceful wind" (sound barrier). The turbulence (able wind) is still there, it just doesn’t affect the plane. This is the secret place of the most High (Psalm 91:1) in which Peter was dwelling as he walked with Jesus back to the boat in what didn’t even seem to be a miracle.
“and when they were come into the ship, the wind ceased” Matthew 14:32. Unlike the disciples, we blow right past them ‘coming into the ship’ to see the miracle of the wind ceasing! “Then they that were in the ship came and worshipped him, saying, Of a truth thou art the Son of God.” Matthew 14:34, But “WHO CARES ABOUT THE WIND? I WAS JUST WALKING ON THE SEA WITH THE LORD!” (rabbit trail but consider the variation of recorded reaction in the narrations that exclude Peter’s walk; Mark 6:51, John 6:21)
Now if Peter had walked on his own from start to finish we would be all excited about that, but since he failed and then came back walking with the Lord, we wrongly see it as a failure and miss what these disciples comprehended.

In this way I confidently believe that the frustration of our faith is not seen by God as a failure that needs to be fixed, but the process of learning by which we can change the undesirable effects that lead us to seek God.
Seeking God IS the goal with the understanding we will never be God.

Are you seeking God? Great, by learned understanding you can improve the effects by changing the cause, but don’t forget that is not the goal but just the motivation. The success of the motivation (fixing the cause of effect) is not the same thing as the success of the goal (seeking the LORD) though they are related.

Peace is found in realizing that seeking the Lord is the goal that pleases God and not the past success of having sought the Lord;

“Again, When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling block before him, he shall die: but because thou hast not given him warning, he shall die in his sin, and his righteousness which he hath done shall not be remembered; but his blood will I require at thine hand.
Nevertheless if thou warn the righteous man, that the righteous sin not, and he doth not sin, he shall surely live, because he is warned; also thou hast delivered thy soul” Ezekiel 3:20-21,
“…Be not thou rebellious like that rebellious house (that came before you): open thy mouth, and eat that I give thee” Ezekiel 2:8.
“Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat 5153 the flesh of the Son of man, and drink 4095 his blood, ye have no life in you.” John 6:53
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eat 5315 phago; a primitive verb (used as an alternate of 2068 in certain tenses); to eat (literal or figurative).
2068 esthio; strengthened for a primitive edo (to eat); used only in certain tenses, the rest being supplied by 5315; to eat (usually literal).
Drink 4095 pino; a prolonged form of pio which (together with another form poo) occurs only as an alternate in certain tenses; to imbibe (literal or figurative).

Clearly by the alternate meanings available, the 5153 and 4095 use here is to be taken figuratively and not in transubstantiation. The intended meaning is to be nourished by the life of Jesus that he intends to fill us with; “To put on Jesus Christ” (Romans 13:14, Galatians 3:27).
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