Luke:22:34 (NIV®)
“Jesus answered, ‘I tell you, Peter, before the rooster crows today, you will deny three times that you know me.’”
I am sympathetic toward Peter. He had spent years with Jesus and had grown to love Him. He knew that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God (Matthew 16:16). Now that Jesus is preparing the disciples for the suffering He would soon endure, Peter is ready to stand with Him. He would never desert Jesus. Then, the unthinkable happens. Peter denies Jesus not just one time – but three times, just as Jesus said.
I’ve been in similar shoes as Peter where I think I know my heart. Thinking or at least hoping that I will do the right thing or make the right choice. It doesn’t always work out that way does it? Can you relate?
In the end, I think this verse and the surrounding events is a reminder that sometimes we really don’t know our own hearts. Peter left broken-hearted after He denied Jesus. I think he did some serious soul-searching afterwards. His response is understandable. How do you process being blindsided by your own heart, by denying your friend, your Lord?
Our response to failure is important. Hopefully, we will follow a similar path as Peter when we are face to face with our failures. Hopefully we will do the work of inner inspection to see our own heart and be open to change. Hopefully we will submit to The Holy Spirit as He works on us.
But this verse isn’t just about our blindness to our own heart or our response to failure. It is about how good, loving and sovereign God is. It is about Him understanding that we will fail, and loving us anyway. He knew Peter would deny Him but He still had plans to use him (Mathew 16:18). Peter’s failure didn’t disqualify him from being used by God. I think his failure was a tool used to create in him what was needed to do the work Jesus intended. Our failures can do the same if we use them to that end.
I’m not suggesting that our sin is “no big deal”. We’re not talking about repetitious, continuous, willful sin. Peter repented, learned from it and changed, proving that our failures don’t have to put us on the sideline. Our response to our failures matters and God can use them to work out what is needed in us.
So failures do not stop God from loving us. They do not make us “unaccepted” in the family of God. We can move forward, much like Peter did, and be stronger and better because of it. We don’t have to worry about how God looks at us because, just as Jesus looked at Peter when the rooster crowd, He looks at us. He sees our stained hearts but knows when our heart’s lean toward Him. He loves us. He can still use us for His Kingdom. His plans for us persist and they might just be the same as they were before we failed because, in the end, He already knew.