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266. Not me! Never!!

Matthew 26:31-35, Mark 14:27-31, Luke 22:31-34, John 13:36-38
Key Verse: "I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers."
Luke 22:32

Poor Simon Peter. There are very few events of our Lord's walk on this earth that are recorded in all four gospels. There is the feeding of the five thousand, the death and resurrection of our Lord, Judas' betrayal, and this, Peter's denial of knowing Jesus. I'm sure that, for Peter, this is a very painful chapter that he would rather have forgotten, but for our sake, I'm glad that it is here.

I can identify with Peter. So often I have bravely prayed, during a worship service, as the music stirs my heart, or during a deep time of prayer, "Use me, Lord! I'll do anything for you, go anyplace! Make me brave for you!" Then, I cower or waffle when someone mocks my faith or when the Lord challenges me to do the unexpected. We deny our Lord more often than we probably choose to admit. Why? Well, we all have our own reasons. I have mine and you have yours. In this, however, Jesus is letting us know that even this is not hidden from Him, or unforgivable.

I find Luke's account interesting. Jesus says, "Simon, Simon, satan has asked to sift you as wheat." (Luke 22:31) This reminds me of the story of Job when satan asks God to allow him to torture Job to tempt him to fall away from his faith in God. God basically allows the test to go forward with Job, and now, for Peter as well.

Peter, however, learns something that Job never knew. Jesus is praying for him. Peter may fail, but Jesus offers restoration and once restored, there is work for Peter to do.

God is the God of second chances. The fact that He didn't abandon His creation from the beginning, but worked to restore proves this. He works in us to restore us to Him as well. Yes, as we shall see, Peter does fail, but as we shall also see, Peter is restored and goes on, in Christ, to do way more than he could ever imagine possible. The sifting process is only used to remove the lumps and impurities to make Peter more pure and useful to God.

In Him there is hope, hope for Peter, hope for us when we turn back to Him. "May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit." (Romans 15:13) It should be encouraging to us to know that our Lord knows what is coming, knows of our weakness and yet is committed to pray for us anyway. He hopes and does not give up on us. We are the weak and unreliable part of the relationship. He is the certainty, the solid rock on which we build our faith. If He won't give up on us, how can we give up on Him? He will forgive, and there is still work for us to do in Him. Thank You, Lord for not giving up on fallible me.


Hymn: "Lord of All Hopefulness" 

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