Failed and failed again

 Failed and Failed Again

Suddenly, the Lord’s words flashed through Peter’s mind: “Before the rooster crows tomorrow morning, you will deny three times that you even know me.” And Peter left the courtyard, weeping bitterly.

LUKE 22.61-62

At dawn Jesus was standing on the beach, but the disciples couldn’t see who he was. He called out, “Fellows, have you caught any fish?” . . . Then the disciple Jesus loved said to Peter, “It’s the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was the Lord, he put on his tunic, . . . jumped into the water, and headed to shore.

JOHN 21.4-5, 7

There aren’t many things worse than facing up to failure — a failed test, a failed business, or a failed relationship. Sometimes when we fail, we want to hide. We’d just rather not face the truth and feel the brunt of our disappointment.

Peter had failed Jesus, and failed again. He failed Jesus by denying that he knew him — even while Jesus was being beaten. Then after Jesus rose from the dead and instructed the disciples to wait in Galilee, Peter failed again. He and the disciples went to Galilee for a while. But then they got tired of waiting and went back to what they did before following Jesus — they went fishing.

When Peter heard Jesus calling to him from the shore, we might expect that Peter would hide, embarrassed by failure heaped on failure. That is what a lot of us try to do when we’ve let God down. We hide. We keep our distance. But Peter showed us what to do when we’ve failed God. He dove into the water in a rush to get back to Jesus. He didn’t let his shame hold him back. And Jesus was there waiting for him, not with harsh words of criticism but with a comforting breakfast.

God is not looking for people who never fail. But he welcomes people who hurry to be restored when they fail — people who won’t let anything get in the way of having their relationship with him restored.