567. God Doesn't Need Our Help, with Julie Harwick

It’s hard to be patient when it doesn’t seem like God is moving in the way I expect Him to.  Some part of me wants to step in and give Him a hand.  Helping is a good thing, right? In today's podcast, Julie Harwick shares from the Bible and her personal life how God has shown us that He is in complete control.

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Welcome to Women World Leaders podcast. I’m your host, Julie Harwick. Thank you for joining me today as we celebrate God’s grace in our lives, in this ministry and around the world.

The steady cadence of marching feet dragged Peter from the depths of a heavy sleep. “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”  There was an ominous tone in Jesus’ voice that Peter had never heard before.  It immediately overcame his sleepiness and brought him to high alert.  He sensed danger, even though he was still unsure of what Jesus meant.  A sizeable number of Roman soldiers and temple guards approached, carrying torches and weapons as they followed a familiar figure.  Judas Iscariot grasped Jesus by the shoulders and quickly kissed Him on both cheeks while carefully averting his eyes from the Teacher’s gaze. Peter’s mind was flooded with memories of the previous hours, “one of you will betray Me… My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death… you will all fall away, for it is written, ‘I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered… even if all fall away, I will not.”  As the soldiers roughly grabbed Jesus’ arm, Peter’s heart pounded in his ears and adrenalin took over his body.  Without even realizing what he was doing, he grabbed the sword from a temple guard’s scabbard and clumsily brought it down, slicing off the ear of the high priest’s servant.  “Put your sword away,” Jesus commanded.  “Shall I not drink the cup the Father has given me?”  He reached down and picked up the severed ear from the dusty ground returning it to its’ rightful place.  If it weren’t for the blood dripping off the servant’s face onto his tunic, there would be no evidence that it had ever been sliced from his head. It was to be the Galilean teacher’s final act of healing.  As the soldiers pushed Jesus ahead of them toward the city, Peter watched, powerless to move, struggling to make sense of what had just happened.

If you’re like me, it’s easy to judge Peter for the way he conducted himself on that final night with Jesus.  Impulsive is the first descriptive word that comes to mind when I think of Peter. Slicing off an ear is certainly evidence of that trait.  But would we be any different?  I wanted to begin the podcast by trying to experience that night in the garden from Peter’s perspective.  In trying to make sense of what was happening, I think his first thought was, “ This is not going well and Jesus isn’t taking action.  I have to do something!” Unfortunately, his thought process is probably painfully familiar to many of us.

As I think about Peter’s situation, it brings back some memories I’d just as soon forget.   One of the most pivotal times in my life was a summer missions trip I took with Teen Missions International when I was 16. It took my relationship with God much deeper and brought me tremendous growth in many different areas. I hoped that someday, my children might have a similar experience. Teen Missions kept me on their mailing list and in February of every year, I received a brochure detailing all the mission trips available the following summer.  I always enjoyed looking through it to see where they were going and what they’d be doing.  The year my twin daughters were about to turn 10, I noticed that the organization was now operating pre-teen teams open to