Luke 22:31–38

Be still: Jesus, thank you that you are with me and that you have made your home in me. You couldn’t be any closer. And yet, I want to know you more. I want to understand who you are and your love at a deeper level today. Amen

Read: Luke 22:31–38

'Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.' But he replied, 'Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death.' (vv31–33)

Encounter: In this passage Jesus prays for Simon Peter. That’s wild. The Son of God, the One who spoke stars and planets into existence, is now speaking out a prayer for Simon Peter. What’s even more wild is that Jesus, God in flesh, doesn’t seem to get his prayer answered. Jesus prays that Simon Peter’s faith will not fail. And yet, as we know, it does. Peter walks out on Jesus when Jesus needs his closest friends the most.

In the next sentence, Jesus says ‘And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.’ Jesus knows the end of Peter’s story —that, despite Peter’s failure, he will turn back. And Jesus also knows what we will read in John chapter 21, that he will give Peter the opportunity (three times!) to repent, to turn back, to be recommissioned. Jesus will tell Peter to ‘feed my lambs’ ‘take care of my sheep’ and ‘feed my sheep.’

Jesus knew the entire trajectory of Simon Peter’s life. He knew every mistake he'd already made, and every mistake still to come. But nothing would stop Jesus achieving the purposes he had for Peter’s life. And the same is true for our lives. Now that is reassuring! Perhaps like me, you can see the mistakes you have already made, and you can (quite easily) imagine that there are still some mistakes to come. And yet none of that can derail the plans and purposes that God has for any one of us.

Apply: Take a moment to bring your whole life before God, with all your hopes, dreams, anticipations, worries and fears. And place it back into God’s hands again. Rest in the amazing reality that Jesus is truly in charge of your life.

Devote: Thank you, Lord, that you hold my life in your hands. You know my mistakes. And you know the mistakes I’ll make in the future. Thank you that you will never walk out on me and that you won’t stop working in and through me.