Daily devotion – when we need restoration
Matthew 26: 33 Peter answered and said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble because of You, I will never be made to stumble.”
34 Jesus said to him, “Assuredly, I say to you that this night, before the rooster crows, you will deny Me three times.”
35 Peter said to Him, “Even if I have to die with You, I will not deny You!” And so said all the disciples.
Have you ever stumbled, failed in an attempt to do right, missed the mark even though you aimed as good as you could?
Peter had a big heart, big ideas and he was a big trier. But poor Peter stumbled where he thought he would never have made such a mistake.
Maybe you planned to buy flowers on your way home for your wife, or pick up a block of chocolate for the kids, or you set about to prepare a special meal for your husband.
And things just did not go the way you planned even though you prepared, planned and put time in. Things just went in the complete opposite way. Life happens like that…more times than we hoped.
How do we recover when we have let others down and ourselves even more?
Peter’s denial was the climax of a series of failures. When Jesus looked at Peter and the rooster crowed it broke Peter’s heart. This was not supposed to happen. How did I fail in all of this? Peter went out and wept bitterly!
After Jesus resurrection, Jesus you will remember met Peter privately and He restored Peter to His fellowship. Peter learned some important lessons during that difficult time.
He learnt to pay attention to God’s Word at all times, to watch and to pray. Finally, Peter learnt to put no confidence in his own strength.
We will stumble – try as hard as we can not to do so. But let us not dwell on our weaknesses but let us as did Peter always turn our hearts again back to the Lord. Let us not remain away from God, weeping about our failures, but know that Christ our Savior and Lord, is always waiting to restore us.
If you this week have stumbled and failed, let God lift your head up and look to Him once again. Let Him comfort you and restore you.