Even Peter

Run and tell his disciples, even Peter, that he is risen.

Mark 16:7

Even Peter.

How curious that the angel sitting in the empty tomb on the Morning of all mornings would emphasize the disciple who denied Jesus in his darkest hour. The angel was a servant messenger of the Most High God, and he was doing just what the Master had instructed.

His words conveyed Jesus’ heart. Do not forget Peter especially. He needs to know He is still loved.

Times of fear and panic cause people to act in ways contrary to their deepest beliefs. Patriots abandon the battle. Mothers walk away from their babies. Fathers leave their families. Disciples deny their Lord.

Jesus knows and understands.

He loved us before we loved Him (1 John 4:19). His love is the kind we dream about. The love Jesus has for you and me is unconditional and accepts us just as we are. His love is patient, forgiving, understanding, empathizing, defending, waiting, loyal. 

Jesus saw us long before we dared look up at Him. He shaped and formed us heart, mind, and soul before we ever took a piece of clay in our chubby baby fists and made a ball (see Genesis 1:26-27). Jesus knows what is in us, what we are made of. Who we were made like and who we were made to become.

But sometimes in the dark night of our souls, we run away. We curse the sky. We angrily demand to know why the pain, the suffering, the job loss, the one-step-forward-three-steps-back life we are struggling to live doesn’t seem to get any better no matter how hard we pray. 

There is a principle to hold us here in this heavy-as-lead place of I-Don’t-Understand. According to the dictionary, a principle is:

a fundamental quality or attribute determining the nature of something.

New Oxford American Dictionary

God brings good out of bad. 

Romans 8:28 says it best:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.

The truth that God brings good out of bad determines the nature of our darkest night. #faith #restoration Click To Tweet

For those who love God, there is good on the other side of suffering. Even when they don’t understand, rage against the pain, or question the Lord (for loving someone does not mean these things do not happen).

This principle was at work for Peter three days after the apparent death of all his hopes, his character, and certainly his joy. The bad was being swallowed up in good while Peter was still huddled in a corner paralyzed by grief and failure. Yes, at that very moment Jesus was chasing his beloved disciple with love, with a plan to stretch that terrible night of denial across the ages and build His church upon forgiveness and second chances.

Even Peter. 

Even you, even me.

Just because you are questioning God as the world shudders with unrest and fear doesn’t mean God will abandon his principles or you.

God brings good out of the bad things in life. Even when the bad things originated from a human with free will. Nothing has been done that cannot be overcome by the power of God. Power so great it rolled a stone away from a tomb, raised the Messiah from death, and revealed him in the flesh to hundreds of people (1 Corinthians 15:3-7).

If you can believe in a virus that can send the world to her knees, surely you can believe in a God who lifts us from our knees, raises our faces, and looks us straight in the eyes with burning love powerful enough to turn our darkest night of denial into unleashed hope and joy. 

Take my hand today and let’s run to the empty tomb and see for ourselves.

@audreycfrank

Lord, thank you for loving even me. I will trust You. Amen.