(Mark 14:66-72)
66 And while Peter was below in the courtyard, one of the slave women of the high priest came, 67 and seeing Peter warming himself, she looked at him and said, “You were with Jesus the Nazarene as well.” 68 But he denied it, saying, “I neither know nor understand what you are talking about.” And he went out onto the porch. 69 The slave woman saw him, and began once more to say to the bystanders, “This man is one of them!” 70 But again he denied it. And after a little while the bystanders were again saying to Peter, “You really are one of them, for you are a Galilean as well.” 71 But he began to curse himself and to swear, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!” 72 And immediately a rooster crowed a second time. And Peter remembered how Jesus had made the remark to him, “Before a rooster crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” And he hurried on and began to weep.
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
Pride does go before the fall!!! Remember, Peter had just boasted about how he was ready to die with Christ. And here he was, the only one trying to do anything about this situation. Determined, but not at all effective. If only he had been alert and praying, as Jesus highly suggested, back at the garden, just after warning Peter that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed twice.
TODAY'S TAKEAWAY:
Pride does go before the fall!!! Remember, Peter had just boasted about how he was ready to die with Christ. And here he was, the only one trying to do anything about this situation. Determined, but not at all effective. If only he had been alert and praying, as Jesus highly suggested, back at the garden, just after warning Peter that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed twice.
The obedient-Christian-me is thinking that I would have been praying. AND I would have been asking Jesus tons of questions. Like, "So what can I do so that I do not deny You? And, when You are taken away, what did you want us to be doing? And, during the three days, what should we be doing? And, please help me, and give me Your strength, peace and wisdom!" etc.
Well, even when we want to be obedient- because we love the Lord- because He loves us so much- and is so very faithfully patient with us, we will still fall into sin. But God already knows that, just like He knew exactly what Peter was going to do. And then, just like Peter gave up being a follower of Jesus and went back to fishing, how often after we sin (in a "big" way), do we think, "Well, so much for that. Christianity doesn't work. God failed me. And why would God want me, anyway?" etc. And then we go off, trying to do life in our own strength, in our own way, which is how we got into woeful trouble in the first place!
It's still amazing how faithfully patient God is! He even tells us that we need to "work out our salvation". Let's think about this, and realize... oh wait! God never fails us, we fail ourselves. God is sovereign, so our failures won't thwart His plans. And God never abandons His children. Even if we "run away," once we have become a Christian, we cannot lose our salvation.
In the previous verses, we read how Jesus was spit on, mocked, slapped, punched, and was going to suffer even more as this time progressed... Jesus went through all of that for us! More than determined in His love for us! And perfectly effective!
In God's great love, He never forces anyone to love Him back, and never forces us to be obedient, He gives everyone fair opportunity to make our decisions. So, just like we see later, Jesus continued to make Himself evident and available to Peter, the Lord continues to pursue us, in order for us to realize that we can always, always, always run back to Him and continue in a close relationship with Him!
