"I tell you, Peter," He said, "the rooster will not crow today until you deny three times that you know Me!" (Luke 22:34). The words must have hung in the air, pointed and powerful. The disciples had just been arguing about who was to be the greatest in Jesus' kingdom. With Peter in the middle of the fray, Jesus' words cut to the heart.
For Peter, the suggestion at that moment was laughable. Hadn't he been faithful for three years? Hadn't he seen the Lord transfigured before him? Hadn't he witnessed miracles? Hadn't he proven his allegiance to Jesus over and over again, even testifying that He was the Christ, the Son of the Living God? Of course he had. That's why his words back to Jesus have a tinge of indignity behind them: "Lord," he told Him, "I'm ready to go with You both to prison and to death!"
Peter suffered from the same delusion that plagues all of us occasionally — that we're above it all. We sometimes believe that we're above such an outright and blatant example of sin; that we're above succumbing; that our faith and our will are strong. But Jesus knows better.
Peter was oblivious that he was embarking on what was to be one of the worst, if not the worst, day of his life. How many times in the years following Christ's death and resurrection would he look back on Jesus' words and wonder how he could have been so arrogant? How many times would he replay the moment by the fire when all his will gave way underneath the weight of a little girl's questioning? How many times would he remember the bitter tears he wept as Jesus was led away to His death in the shadow of His friend's blatant denial?
But how could he have known? In that moment, Peter felt strong. He felt confident. He was, in his own mind, invincible. But Jesus knew better. He still knows better.
"We can take heart that though we don't know what the day holds, Jesus does. And, amazingly, He's been up long before we swing our legs out of bed, praying for us."
Michael Kelley
God's Great Grace
Every morning, we wake up and are oblivious to what the day holds. We know what the calendar says and what our to-do list requires. Rarely do we think that, in minutes or hours, our world could change with a single word: Cancer. Downsize. Bankrupt. Unfaithful. Betrayal.
Those are the kinds of things that wait for us in the coming day. With each one, we're reminded of our own powerlessness. Despite this, we, like Peter, are gloriously confident in our own faith and will. We are, in our own minds, invincible to the lure of sin and the brokenness of the world. But like Peter, we can take heart that though we don't know what the day holds, Jesus does. And, amazingly, He's been up long before we swing our legs out of bed, praying for us: "Simon, Simon, look out! Satan has asked to sift you like wheat. But I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And you, when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers" (Luke 22:31-32).
Let that sink in. Feel the weight of the grace. On the worst day of his life, when Peter had no idea how far he was about to fall, Jesus had been praying for him.
About eight years ago, my wife, Jana, and I had no idea when we woke up on a morning like any other in mid-October that we would end the day sleeping in Vanderbilt Children's Hospital. We had no clue that our world was to be flip-flopped that day. We had no idea that the cancer inside our 2-year-old son's body was about to be discovered. And we had no conceivable thought that our lives were about to be radically and irreversibly re-ordered by the diagnosis that awaited us just a few hours later. Nor did we know that for the next three and a half years, our lives would center on the daily chemotherapy treatments for our son, Joshua, who is now a thriving 9-year-old.
We didn't know. We were blissfully ignorant. But thankfully, Jesus was not. He knew and was praying for us.
Take heart, Christian, not because you know what to expect from life today. You most certainly do not. And if today is the worst day of your life, know that Jesus has been praying for you because "He is always able to save those who come to God through Him, since He always lives to intercede for them" (Hebrews 7:25).
Face each day with confidence, not because you know what's coming, but because you know that Jesus has been praying for you.