He said to him the third time, “…do you love Me?” —John 21:17

Have you ever felt the pain, inflicted by the Lord, at the very center of your being, deep down in the most sensitive area of your life? The devil never inflicts pain there, and neither can sin nor human emotions. Nothing can cut through to that part of our being but the Word of God. “Peter was grieved because He said to him the third time, ‘Do you love Me?’ ” Yet he was awakened to the fact that at the center of his personal life he was devoted to Jesus. And then he began to see what Jesus’ patient questioning meant. There was not the slightest bit of doubt left in Peter’s mind; he could never be deceived again. And there was no need for an impassioned response; no need for immediate action or an emotional display. It was a revelation to him to realize how much he did love the Lord, and with amazement he simply said, “Lord, You know all things….” Peter began to see how very much he did love Jesus, and there was no need to say, “Look at this or that as proof of my love.” Peter was beginning to discover within himself just how much he really did love the Lord. He discovered that his eyes were so fixed on Jesus Christ that he saw no one else in heaven above or on the earth below. But he did not know it until the probing, hurting questions of the Lord were asked. The Lord’s questions always reveal the true me to myself.

Oh, the wonder of the patient directness and skill of Jesus Christ with Peter! Our Lord never asks questions until the perfect time. Rarely, but probably once in each of our lives, He will back us into a corner where He will hurt us with His piercing questions. Then we will realize that we do love Him far more deeply than our words can ever say.

Afterword from Oswald Chambers today…
Faith never knows where it is being led, but it loves and knows the One Who is leading.

____________________________________________________

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord. I’m glad the afterword was attached after today’s daily offering from Oswald Chambers. It seems universally true, all the time. Whereas the probing hurting questions come at a time not of our choosing and perhaps once in a lifetime. Your perfect timing, of course, but not something for me to spend much effort considering. The afterword, however, gives plenty to consider and relish every day. Knowing that you are good and you are for me. (and everyone and everything else) is a good background for all my other thoughts. It also needs to be worked in to my spirit to displace previous thinking to the contrary. … That you were not necessarily good and I was floundering on my own, with you looking on, collecting evidence, and getting ready for my judgement. Thank you for your many words and stories that show me otherwise. They’ve been there all along. I’m just seeing them with new eyes now, again.

Jeremiah 29:11 I know the plans I have for you … plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.

Romans 8:28 …God causes everything to work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.

Things like that provide good perspective and background with which to consider all the circumstances that come my way. Please help me remember these things … especially when the circumstances look overwhelming and negative.

It seems you deal with me and bring me to the realization of your love for me and my love for you in different ways. Like yesterday when a log of deadfall from a tree fell out of the sky and landed a few feet from me and my grandson. And many near misses like that in my life. They convince me of the truth of those verses, more and more. So, thank you. I don’t need to figure out all the details. It is good to just know that you are good and you are for me. Help me just remember and soak in that.

Do you love Me? —John 21:17

Peter’s response to this piercing question is considerably different from the bold defiance he exhibited only a few days before when he declared, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” (Matthew 26:35; also see Matthew 26:33-34). Our natural individuality, or our natural self, boldly speaks out and declares its feelings. But the true love within our inner spiritual self can be discovered only by experiencing the hurt of this question of Jesus Christ. Peter loved Jesus in the way any natural man loves a good person. Yet that is nothing but emotional love. It may reach deeply into our natural self, but it never penetrates to the spirit of a person. True love never simply declares itself. Jesus said, “Whoever confesses Me before men [that is, confesses his love by everything he does, not merely by his words], him the Son of Man also will confess before the angels of God” (Luke 12:8).

Unless we are experiencing the hurt of facing every deception about ourselves, we have hindered the work of the Word of God in our lives. The Word of God inflicts hurt on us more than sin ever could, because sin dulls our senses. But this question of the Lord intensifies our sensitivities to the point that this hurt produced by Jesus is the most exquisite pain conceivable. It hurts not only on the natural level, but also on the deeper spiritual level. “For the Word of God is living and powerful…, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit…”— to the point that no deception can remain (Hebrews 4:12). When the Lord asks us this question, it is impossible to think and respond properly, because when the Lord speaks directly to us, the pain is too intense. It causes such a tremendous hurt that any part of our life which may be out of line with His will can feel the pain. There is never any mistaking the pain of the Lord’s Word by His children, but the moment that pain is felt is the very moment at which God reveals His truth to us.

Journal DJR
Good Morning Lord, As usual, Chambers makes a universal statement, or at least gives me the feeling that his description of how you bring exquisite pain to us, is “always” the way you work in our lives. Of course you are bigger than any box we can contrive… and are free to work in our lives any way you want. Although we need to reject all boxes that Chambers or any teacher or system try to pigeon hole you into… we still must seek the kernel of truth in whatever they are saying. i.e. don’t throw the baby out with the bath water. That is what we are doing a lot these days as we are learning new aspects of you and your love. Richard Rohr mentioned “Transcend and Include” as a guide to finding new truth. Don’t reject our older truth, the truth that got us this far… but integrate the part that is true in to our new bigger picture. The metaphor of the blind men each experiencing an elephant by touching different parts is helpful. Perhaps we had known the elephant as tree by touching a leg. Now we touch the tail and find it rope like. But the tree likeness of the leg is still true. So help us integrate all of our past insights with what you are showing us now, and in the future.

Back to your question, Do you love me? I would say like the man you asked if he believed… Yes Lord I love you, but help my lack of love. Perhaps as we bring that love and lack of love into focus I will experience that “exquisite pain” that Chambers refers to and Peter felt after his denial. It seems like that intense experience only needs to happen once in a lifetime, or rarely???

Don’t over analyze it. It will happen as much as it needs to and you will allow. I mean as much as your surrender and connection and vulnerability will allow. If you don’t build walls of systematic theology that I need to fit into… More things can happen than you expect. Aspects of my love that you don’t even conceive of. So keep on coming on the path you are on. Know that there will be opposition, from religious systems, people and even your own love to be in control, have it figured out, be right etc.

Got it. BTW, did you wrestle with the same Big Four that we do? Look good, Feel good, Be right and Be in control.

Yes, it came with the package. When I agreed to enter this dimension in Bethlehem, I left what you might call my Super Powers and Exemptions and took on a full package of Humanity. Satan wouldn’t have tried the temptations that he did if he didn’t think he had the possibility of being successful. But just as I said, No thank you… Actually I told him what was written, you also can rely on what is written, even when it doesn’t seem to be true. You can rely on my love even when you don’t feel it. Just as I relied on Abba’s love, when I would have liked another way. I knew that regardless of the short term pain, it would all wind up good in the end. You can arm yourself with that same knowledge. It may seem PollyAnna to some and even yourself at first… but when this peace that passes understanding is proven and real, it will be compelling to them and you !! Then you will really believe.

Matt 26:39 He went a little farther and fell on His face, and prayed, saying, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as You will.”

Romans 8:28 And we know that God causes everything to work together[a] for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose for them.