Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” Matthew 16:22.

Get Me,  Satan!  You are  an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”  Matthew 16:23

But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” – Matthew 17:7

Heavenly Comfort

When I’m alone and feeling afraid,
It’s hard to hide from the enemy.
If I let my guard down he gets in my head
And perverts what you’ve said to me.

Faith battles in my head with fear 
As my imagination battles with doubt.
The enemy wants to steal my comfort
And I struggle to throw him out.

I seek comfort and safety in your presence.
And I imagine you here by my side.
I wish I could hear your voice, Lord, 
Saying all his words are just lies.

Not because I don’t trust you, my God,
Or because I believe what he has to say,
It’s because I yearn for the heavenly comfort 
Of your holy hand on my face.

But I know that I need to grow my faith
Until fear has no hold on me.
I need my trust in you to be so great
That when the enemy sees me he flees.

Lord, I’ve lived precious moments in your comfort.
And they were moments in which I was awed.
That’s why I won’t give up until I’ve perfected
Being still and knowing you’re God.
Linda Troxell ©06/08/2021

In Matthew 16 Peter pronounces Jesus the Messiah, Son of the living God. –Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Matthew 16:16, and Jesus affirms that He is. Then, on the heels of that unbelievable bombshell, Jesus tells His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem to die. Peter objects, telling Jesus that this cannot happen. Then Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from You, Lord; this shall not happen to You!” Matthew 16:22. And Jesus rebukes Peter calling him Satan, a stumbling block whose concern for man is more than his concern for God. (Matt 16:21-23)

Imagine yourself to be Peter, a simple fisherman who, until called to follow this rabbi, lived a simple life. In the span of a few days, you have realized this man you’ve been following isn’t just a Rabbi, He is the Son of God. Before you can fully digest this, the Son of God tells you that he must go to Jerusalem to be tortured and killed; but not to worry, for in 3 days He will rise from the grave. When you protest, telling Him He must not die, He calls you Satan and accuses you of being a stumbling block. But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me,  Satan!  You are  an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.”  Matthew 16:23. How could you possibly wrap your head around such things?

And that isn’t all of it. Six days later, Jesus leads you and two others up a high mountain to pray. Suddenly, before your unbelieving eyes, Jesus is transfigured. He stands in the sky, radiant in glory; His face shining and His clothes white as the light. Then, just as suddenly, Moses and Elijah appear in the sky and stand talking to Jesus! (Matt 17:1-8) Without a moment to consider what you are seeing, you hear the booming voice of God, coming from the clouds, and saying, “This is my Son whom I love; with Him I am well pleased. Listen to Him.” (Matt 17:5)

You and the other disciples are afraid and you fall to the ground face first. A minute later Jesus comes to you, He touches you and tells you not to be afraid. But Jesus came and touched them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” – Matthew 17:7. I bet Peter was speechless. He must have wondered about his own sanity. Here is a simple man who has never left his home. Every day of his life was just like the one before. But then comes this rabbi who calls Peter to follow Him, and He shows Peter things he could never have imagined. And then, God touches him and tells him not to be afraid!.

Each time I read this part of the book of Matthew I imagine myself as Peter, feeling Jesus’ touch and hearing His voice telling me not to be afraid. And whenever I am afraid, in real life, I use it to imagine God touching me and telling me, as He told Peter, not to be afraid. 

Of course, I struggled with imagining such a comforting touch because I had no real human experience to draw from. I have plenty of loved ones who will comfort me, but their touch is not anything like what I imagine God’s touch to be. Then,  recently,  I realized that I do have a real experience to draw from. I had to go way back to my early childhood, to when I was 6 years old and in the first grade.

When I was young, I loved playing on the parallel bars. In first grade, I thought I was pretty good at it too. In fact, I was probably showing off the day I fell and broke my arm. When I stood up I couldn’t move my right arm. I don’t remember there being physical pain, but I do remember two thoughts. First, I thought, I was in big trouble, followed closely by I want my dad! Dad equaled safety and dad equaled comfort.

When I went to tell my teacher, for some inexplicable reason, she told me to go run it under cold water. That seemed odd to me, but I was six so I did what I was told. Needless to say, it made no difference. She must have sent me to the nurse’s office; although I don’t actually remember going, I do remember laying on a cot in her office waiting for my dad. I was terrified. 

When he walked through the door, my entire being relaxed. My dad was here, so everything was going to be okay. When I relaxed, so did whatever was holding back my tears and I sobbed as he walked toward me. Then he sat down next to me, and he took my hand in his. My world was safe again. I felt the kind of bliss that only a child can feel in the safety of her daddy. And an adult can feel only with her heavenly Daddy,

Now, in my adult life, any time I need God’s comfort I can use the memory of my dad’s touch when I was 6 years old. I simply remember the comfort of my dad holding my hand and I imagine it to be God’s touch. Of course, I know the touches are not equal. I’m sure God’s touch is unimaginably better than my mortal father’s touch could have been. But that’s the point. I cannot imagine the comfort of God’s touch, but I can remember my Dad’s touch. When I’m afraid and need comfort that memory makes it easier to imagine Jesus holding my hand and comforting me. 

The memory of the comfort I got from my dad at 6 is still strong at 60. It helps me to feel God’s touch when I’m afraid and it helps me to imagine more clearly how Peter must have felt when Jesus touched him and told him he need not be afraid. But even more importantly for me, it helps me to remember that God is always right here waiting to comfort me with that same unimaginable comfort Peter felt that day. I only have to ask Him. 

Let’s pray:

Heavenly Father, we often crave your touch and yearn to hear your voice. Sometimes we forget, Lord, that you are always right here with us. We forget that you hold us in the palm of your hand and that you talk to us constantly. We forget that we only need to be still to hear your voice. Father, please forgive us for calling on you and begging you to tell us what to do, but then never sitting still to listen for your reply. In our times of need, Lord, please help us to be more mindful of your presence at our side and your voice in our ear whispering, “Be still and know that I am God.”. We pray this in the Holy Name of Jesus, Amen.

Points for Pondering or for Prayer

Or

Perhaps for Putting Pen to Paper

*Do you have someone in your earthly world whose touch comforts you?    

*If you do, have you told them that it does?      If not, why not, they need to hear it from you.

*If you don’t have someone whose touch is comforting, do you have the memory of being comforted by someone’s touch?    

*If you do write a paragraph about who that is and how the memory came about. 

*Have you ever before put all of the things I mention here together and thought about what it was like for Peter?       

*If you have, write a paragraph about just what you think Peter felt.       

*If you haven’t, take some time and think about how it might have felt,  and then write about it.