God of Grace

One of the questions we often ask about Jesus is why He chose Judas Iscariot in the first place. If He knew that the disciple would go on to betray Him, it just seems easier not to ask the guy to follow Him at all. We don't actually even know how or when or where He called Judas, but He called Him, and that boggles our minds. 

But an equally reasonable question to ask would be why He chose Simon Peter, too. 

Simon Peter was impulsive. He was unpredictable. He had a passion that he could not rein in. He blurted out whatever he was thinking, and he acted more on instinct than on careful consideration. By all accounts, we would say that Peter was a "loose cannon," and yet, Jesus was willing to take those risks and invite Peter on a journey with Him anyway. 

And Peter was going to betray Him, too. A little bit quieter, but he did it. He sat around that fire and denied that he even knew this Man, this Man who had, just a short while before, told him with a full measure of grace that he was about to fall away. 

Then, when Jesus come back, He comes right back to Peter and builds him back up. Restores him to relationship. Encourages him in his weak spots. 

Why? 

Because God knows what we are all unwilling to admit: that we will stumble. That we're going to mess up. 

He told Peter as much in Mark 14:27. He told the disciple that he was headed for a crash. He predicted that it wouldn't be long before the fear got the better of him and he denied knowing anything about Jesus, denied being part of anything. He knew the disciple was going to find himself between a Rock and a hard place and that, at least at first, Peter was going to succumb to the hard place. 

He also knew he would come back to the Rock. 

God knows the same thing about us. He knows the troubles we're going to get into in our lives. He knows the positions we're going to find ourselves in...or put ourselves in. He knows that at times, we're going to be between the Rock and a hard place and that sometimes, we're going to give in to the hard place instead of choosing the Rock. 

But He also knows we can come back. 

It's why He speaks with such grace and tenderness. Because He knows. Because He already knows what we are unwilling to admit - that we're going to stumble. 

Thank God for that grace.