Peter didn’t handle
himself well, but at least he was there. His failure was terrible, but at least
he cared enough to try and follow his Lord. In the end, it was not Peter’s faith that
failed, but his courage. Jesus had told Peter, “I have prayed for you that your
faith might not fail.” (Luke
22:32). His prayer was answered. Peter never lost his
faith. However, in the moment of crisis, he lost his
courage.
It is true that Peter was
loud. It is also true that underneath it all he loved Jesus and was there in the
courtyard—with all his faults—keeping an eye on Jesus. At heart Peter was loyal,
who failed to live up to the best intentions of his heart.
Sometimes, God allows us to fail in order to strip away our
excessive self-confidence. Never again would Peter brag on himself like he did
that night. Never again would he presume to be better than his brothers. Never
again would he be so cocky and self-confident. All that was gone forever, part
of the price Peter paid for his failure in the moment of
crisis.
It is a good thing that
the Lord allows such things to happen to us. By falling flat on our faces we are
forced to admit that without the Lord we can do nothing but fail. The quicker we
learn that (though we never learn it completely) the better off we will be.
Failure never seems to be a good thing when it happens, but if failure strips
away our cocky self-confidence, then failure is ultimately a gift from God.
Never
again would Peter stand up and boast about his courage. In the future he would
talk about humility instead.
Our Lord can redeem our
failures if we will let him. There are two very interesting facts about the way
Jesus treated Peter: He never criticized him and, He never gave up on him. Jesus
knew about Peter’s denial long before it happened. He knew what Peter would do,
he knew how he would react, and he knew the kind of man Peter would be
afterward. Peter did much more for Jesus Christ after his fall
than he did before. Before his fall, he was loud, boisterous and unreliable;
afterward he became a flaming preacher of the gospel. Before he was a big
talker; afterward he talked only of what Jesus Christ could do for others. He
was the same man, but he was different. He was still Peter through and through,
but he had been sifted by Satan and, in the sifting, the chaff of his life had
been blown away.
There is much in this
story that should encourage us. It was not the real Peter who denied the Lord;
it was the real Peter who followed him into the courtyard. It was not the real
Peter who cursed and swore; it was the real Peter who said, “You are the Christ,
the Son of the living God.” When the Lord looks at you and me, He doesn’t look
at us and see only our failures. He sees beyond our faults to the loyalty
underneath. He sees our pain, our tears, and our earnest desire to please Him.
He sees us in our faltering attempts to follow him.
In Christ,
Brown
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