Simon Peter made a promise he could not keep…
“Lord, I am ready to go with You, both to prison and to death,” (Luke 22.33).
Simon had more confidence than he deserved. As Jesus predicted, the disciple denied his master three times before the rooster crowed that day. The real test for Peter was not in the moment of his denial of Christ. That was expected.
The real test came later when Simon faced the crushing weight of his own remorse. It began the moment “a rooster crowed” and “Peter remembered the word of the Lord.” Knowing deeply, perhaps for the first time, the depravity of his tortured and empty soul, Simon “went out and wept bitterly” (Luke 22.60-62).
Once confronted by his own weak and sinful nature, it is difficult for a man not to quit. Hence, Christ prays that our “faith should not fail; and when you have returned to Me, strengthen your brethren,” (Luke 22.31-32 NKJV).
Out of a man’s own brokenness and profound sense of failure, there is still hope and redemption. He must dig deep deep within himself for courage and humility to ‘return to Jesus and strengthen the brethren.’
