Broken strength

Matthew 26:33-35 NLT

Peter declared, "Even if everyone else deserts You, I will never desert You." [34] Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, Peter-this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny three times that you even know Me." [35] "No!" Peter insisted. "Even if I have to die with You, I will never deny You!" And all the other disciples vowed the same.

Peter was a big mouth, no doubt.

He probably was the strongest, the tallest and a natural, bungling leader of the disciples.

He certainly was an extrovert and a man of action.

Yet he had a tendency to overestimate himself too!

He even tried to stop the destiny of Jesus' salvation mission:

Matthew 16:21-22 NLT

From then on Jesus began to tell His disciples plainly that it was necessary for Him to go to Jerusalem, and that He would suffer many terrible things at the hands of the elders, the leading priests, and the teachers of religious law. He would be killed, but on the third day He would be raised from the dead. [22] But Peter took Him aside and began to reprimand Him for saying such things. "Heaven forbid, Lord," he said. "This will never happen to You!"

Now, even when Jesus told him straight that he would deny Him, he tried to say that he knew better than Jesus!

God's plan in Peter's life (and in each of us) was to demonstrate his complete brokenness and uselessness in his own human strength.

He had to come to the end of himself, even denying His Master, in order for his human pride to be smashed.

It's not the end of the world to fail - in fact, it is often the start of God building something new and greater, based on His Strength, not our own.

Psalm 102:23-24 AMPC

He has afflicted and weakened my strength, humbling and bringing me low [with sorrow] in the way; He has shortened my days [aging me prematurely]. [24] I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days, You Whose years continue throughout all generations.

The end of self is the beginning with God!