Disappointments 

By Steven Harper 

When Jesus neared the hour of His death, He told Peter that he would deny Him three times before the rooster crowed (Luke 22:31-34).  Of course, Peter denied he would deny the Lord, but it did happen as the Lord had said.  After the third denial the rooster crowed (v. 60), and Luke's record says the Lord looked at Peter, then Peter remembered the words of the Lord and went out and wept bitterly (vs. 61, 62).  What do you think Peter saw in the face of Jesus when the Lord looked at Him?  Why did Peter leave and weep so bitterly? 

I believe it was disappointment.  I believe the Lord looked at Peter with the look most every child has seen in the face of their parents at one time or another: the look of disappointment.  Here was one of the very men He had chosen to walk with Him after all night in prayer (Luke 6:12), and now he had denied knowing Him — just as He had predicted.  Even though the Lord knew it would happen, it was surely no less disappointing — no less disappointing than man's sin would grieve the Lord though He knew far in advance that he would.  When the Lord saw the sinfulness of man before the flood, He was greatly grieved — to the point He said He was sorry He had made man (Gen. 6:7).  No doubt, God intended greater things for man than what he had done, and to see His own creation reach such depths of ungodly behavior was a serious disappointment. 

But I think Peter was also disappointed with himself.  Luke also says that Peter went out and wept bitterly after remembering the words of the Lord.  That remembrance of hearing the Lord tell him to his face that he would deny Him, and then remembering how he vehemently denied such would ever happen must have rung mightily in the ears of Peter when His Lord then looked at him.  Oh, how his heart must have sank! He not only disappointed the Lord — he disappointed himself!  He let the Lord down when He needed a friend, and this after he said it would never happen! 

I also see evidence that the remembrance of this must have driven him to never do such again.  When the Holy Spirit fell upon the apostles on the day of Pentecost, it was Peter who spoke out to the crowds above the other eleven (Acts 2:14ff).  He would later speak out to those who gathered at the amazement of the lame man being healed (3:12ff), and he would also be the one who spoke up when the Sanhedrin confronted them about the things they taught and the miracles they had done (4:8-12, 19-20).  With his own denial in mind, Peter could later write, “But sanctify the Lord God in your hearts, and always be ready to give a defense to everyone who asks you a reason for the hope that is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15).  Never again would Peter be unprepared for the day when someone would say to him, “Surely you also are one of them, for your speech betrays you.” (Matt. 26:73)  With the look of the Lord forever in his mind and his own feelings of disappointment, Peter would never again deny the Lord and he could use his memory as a source of encouragement to others, too.

But I do not think the Lord’s disappointment has diminished.  First, let us consider our own sins and how the Lord must feel when He looks down and sees those who are supposed to be His children acting as they do.  How must He feel when He sees the roaring lion (1 Pet. 5:8) seeking one of His own, only to provide a way of escape (1 Cor. 10:13) and for us to not take it?  How must He feel when He has provided the means and the example to avoid every temptation (cf. Matt. 4:1-11) and see His children not use it?  When the Lord looks down at His creation today, is it with joy — or disappointment? 

I believe the Lord is no less disappointed when He looks down at those who are supposed to be preaching His word and hears them speak in the language of Ashdod.  How must He feel when He has given us warning (just as He did with Peter) that certain ones would come from among the faithful, “speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after themselves” (Acts 20:29), only to see that many have failed to heed the warning?  How must He feel when the teachers and preachers of the word ignore the admonition, “Preach the word! Be ready in season and out of season. Convince, rebuke, exhort, with all longsuffering and teaching. For the time will come when they will not endure sound doctrine, but according to their own desires, because they have itching ears, they will heap up for themselves teachers; and they will turn their ears away from the truth, and be turned aside to fables” (2 Tim. 4:2-4)?  How must He feel when they preach words that are soothing to the ears of the hearers and do not rebuke the false teachers and those who are propagating erroneous doctrine? 

How must the Lord feel when He hears some preachers rightfully condemn those who are turning a blind eye to false teaching because it is their friends who are preaching the error, only to see them turn around and do the same thing for their own preacher friends?  How must He feel when men who have stood firmly on the word of God and boldly defended it then decry those who would expose their own errors and who are now calling for “tolerance” of their false teachings because “it is only a difference in application”?  How must He feel when He looks at the ones who lambasted those who used Romans 14 to dismiss arguments against having fellowship with one who preached error on the subject of marriage, divorce, and remarriage 15 short years ago, only to see that they are now using the same weak and erroneous argument because it is their preacher friend who has taught (and continues to teach) a different, but also erroneous, message on the same subject? 

I believe the Lord is no less disappointed than when He heard the third denial of Peter in the courtyard of the high priest’s house.  I believe the Lord is no less hurt by hearing these preachers today than when Peter cursed and swore, “I do not know this Man of whom you speak!” (Mark 14:71)  I believe He feels just as abandoned and just as much denied as when Peter said those words.  When men deny the plain teaching of the Lord as truth and run to defend their own brethren above the Lord Himself, I see the look of disappointment on the face of the Lord as it surely must have been in the early morning hours of the day He was crucified. 

And friends, I feel that disappointment, too.  When I see some preachers I have befriended over the years now playing the hypocrite because of whom it is that is teaching error, I can only hang my head and wonder, “Why?”  I am disappointed in my brethren!  I am disappointed and ashamed that some who have boldly spoken the word in the past have now sold their souls for friendships here on earth (Jas. 4:4).  I am disappointed that some who seemed so firm in the word in years past have now retreated from defense of the true and plain gospel and have taken sides with doctrines that will condemn souls to eternal torment.  I am disappointed that some of the same men who warned against “defending the man” over defending the word are now doing the very thing they once condemned, even as they deny they are denying it.  I am disappointed they are not practicing what they have preached for decades. 

I am disappointed, but not without hope.  My faith rests not in men, but in the Lord who cannot lie (Titus 1:2); I know the Lord will not disappoint (Num. 23:19).  Though men may fail, my Lord will never forsake me. 

From: The Burns Park BEACON, a bulletin of the Burns Park church of Christ, North Little Rock, AR.
Editor: Steven Harper

January 12, 2003


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