The Apostle Peter was a rough, outspoken fisherman. Brave and impulsive, his habit was never to look before he leaped. It often landed him in trouble, as on the notable occasion when he declared that he would die for Jesus and heard the sad reply that he would in fact deny Jesus.
It happened in front of the other disciples at their last supper together before the devastating events leading to the crucifixion, and the wound cut Peter deep. Then Jesus added: “Don’t be distressed!” (John 13:37-14:1).
It was a bittersweet exchange between two close friends that says much about the quality of a relationship between sinners and their Savior. David captures the essence of that bond in the deeply comforting words of Psalm 103, detailing the incredible benefits that flow to a redeemed soul from the Lord of Life who crowns us “with lovingkindness and tender mercies.”
The truth so poetically expressed in these few verses should be a strength and encouragement to all God’s people as the dark impulses directing this present evil world are being exposed in the gathering light of Jesus’ soon return. “Let not your heart be troubled,” says Jesus, even as we take stock of our own resources and wonder if we will stand in the evil day. Could we, like Peter, deny our Lord? If we stumble, will God lift us up? His reply is found in the hugely comforting words of Psalm 103, summed up in verse 14: He knoweth our frame, He remembereth that we are dust.
Peter’s brash promise came before he learned the hard lesson that God is not looking for heroes, just obedient servants. He knows our weakness and encourages us to trust His strength, not ours.
It is the trust of one with an untroubled heart, aware of God’s real presence in a world that is lost in the gloom of a cloud at sunset. For Bible-believing Christians, the gloom is a promise of a Son Rise.