When God's Plan Doesn't Match Yours

Imagine you just had the best week of your life. You saw something incredible—something that proved everything you believed was true. You're riding high, feeling confident about the future. And then someone you trust drops a bomb that completely upends everything.

That's exactly where the disciples are in Matthew 17. They've just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration where they saw Jesus literally glowing—his divinity on full display. They heard God the Father speak. They watched Jesus talk with Moses and Elijah. If anything could make your faith unshakeable, that would be it.

But then Jesus says something that rocks their world: "The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day." The text tells us they were "greatly distressed"—which is actually a much stronger word in the original language. It means they were grieved to the point of profound emotional pain. Not just worried. Devastated.

Here's what's wild: Jesus literally just told them the gospel. He told them he was going to die for their sins and rise again. That's the best news they could ever hear. But they completely missed it because they were so focused on what they wanted—power, position, being part of the inner circle when Jesus set up his earthly kingdom. They had plans, and Jesus just announced that his plans were radically different.

We do this too. We come to God with our plans already drawn up, and when he doesn't follow our script, we freak out. We forget that the same God who just showed up in our lives in powerful ways is still trustworthy even when things don't go the way we expected. The disciples saw Jesus in his glory and still couldn't trust him with their future. What about us?