Author: Darren Lim, Associative Pastor, East Bay Alliance Church, Oakland
60 Peter replied, “Man, I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Just as he was speaking, the rooster crowed. 61 The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times.” (Luke 22:60-61, NIV)
When we think of Peter, we tend to think of him as the disciple who denied Jesus, but the question we must also ask is, where were the other disciples? Wasn’t their absence an act of denial as well? Are there not times we all deny Him in similar ways as well? Read this poem and see how true it is for us:
“When I am too busy to pray,
I deny that you are the center of my life.
When I neglect your Word,
I deny that you are competent to guide me.
When I worry,
I deny that you are Lord of my circumstances.”
As we look at Peter, we should not be hard on him and we should not be hard on ourselves either. Jesus looks at us the same way He did Peter, one filled with sincerity and compassion.
Warren Wiersbe writes, “Each one of us, at one time or another, will fail the Lord and then hear (in one way or another) “the cock crowed.” Satan will tell us that we are finished, that our future has been destroyed, but that is not God’s message to us. It was certainly not the end for Peter! His restoration was so complete that he was able to say to the Jews, “You disowned the Holy and Righteous One!” (Acts 3:14) Peter did not have 1 John 1:9 to read, but he did experience it in his own heart.”
Sometime after this incident, Jesus restored His repentant disciple and gave Peter a great responsibility (John 21). Peter became useful again, but it was a lesson on forgiveness and restoration he will never forget. As we enter this season of Lent, maybe there is something you may need to confess in order to have a right relationship with Him.
