Ben Franklin said there are three things that are extremely hard: steel, a diamond, and to know oneself. My 44 years of experience in life has taught me Ben was right. I wonder if Ben ever read the story of Peter in Matthew 26 (go ahead and get your Bible and read the chapter before continuing in this blog), I did ). What you will notice is that Peter, and the other disciples for that matter, all felt they knew themselves (Matthew 26:35). Deny Jesus? Never.
When Jesus told them something about them they did not think was true. they felt it could never happen. How is it with you & me? You may say, "The Lord has never told me anything." The Lord may not speak to you through your ears, but He can speak through His word, nature, and other people. We test this all through God's word but suffice it to say, God speaks.
Which brings up another question. Are we listening? When it came to the question of who knows you more, the disciples thought it was them, but it turned out that Jesus knew them better. I think it is proof of a Creator God that knows us so well. It is not us who made us. The God of heaven made us and knows us.
As we have seen in our story today, realizing God knows us better than we know ourselves can be challenging. A God who knows us sometimes tells us things we really don't want to hear. But let's look at the reason why Jesus told Peter and the disciples. Jesus is not playing some cool trick of "See, I knew you would do it before you thought of doing it." Jesus tells them so they will come to grips with their own weak self.
For Peter and the disciples to admit they do not know themselves would have been the first act in a marvelous story. Imagine if the disciples said, "Lord, we don't know ourselves, but you do. Shelter us, change us, save us from our own destructive habits. Wow, what a difference we would have seen at the cross. By the book of Acts, the disciples had figured it out and were fully engaged with a God who knows them!
So my appeal today is, "Get to know the God of heaven who has proven He knows you better than you know yourself." He wants to change that individual He sees into something more like Him.
God bless you in your journey of finding your true self in Jesus.