“Then they believed His words; they sang his praise. But they soon forgot His works; they did not wait for His counsel.” Psalm 106:12-13
We want to stop at this point in Peter’s week and take inventory of
where Peter is and how it pertains to us. We know Peter loved the Lord. He gave up everything to follow Him. He made the great confession of who Christ is “You are the Christ, the Son of the
living God”. Not only that, Peter is living with the Lord on a daily basis. He listens to the Lord teaching – both in public and in private time as he and the disciples spent time with the Lord. Thus we see that Peter is spending time with the Lord and listening to His word. Interestingly this is what we often tell people to do to help them grow as believers. Yet we see that in Peter there is still dryness so we have to ask what is missing. How can we be close to the Lord and still be spiritually dry?
First we note that Peter is lacking in prayer. He and the other disciples knew this was an area that they needed to learn more about. Yet when we come to times in Scripture where Peter should be in prayer, he sleeps. A relationship cannot be maintained unless there is communication. The lack of prayer is especially noticeable in times when Peter acts without seeking God’s will in advance.
Second we note that there is a tendency in Peter’s life to jump ahead of the Lord. He, like most of us, had a tendency to want to move things along and so he likes to make things happen (without
seeking God’s direction). At the Passover the disciples and the Lord sang Psalms 113-114 and then Psalms 115-118 as they left the Upper Room. Read the words that would have passed through Peter’s lips and think about his actions which are in direct opposition to what he sang. How many times do we sing God’s truth that we do not live in our lives?
Last we see that Peter’s situation in the Lord’s words to the church at Ephesus in Revelation 2. They both believe sound doctrine. They both study God’s word and place a premium on knowing and doing Gods truth. The saints at Ephesus worked at serving the Lord. Despite opposition, they endured. But the Lord points to the common great failure in both their lives, – what he addresses With Peter in John 21. They left their first love. They focused so hard on doing the work they forget loving the person.
What is “first love”? The Lord refers to the initial joy and elation that believers have when they are forgiven of their sin – given freedom from the slavery to that which is destroying them. There is praise and a desire to thank the one that made this possible. This results in a desire to do anything the Lord asks of us. The Lord tells the church at Ephesus, Peter and us to remember that place He once held – we are to place Him back at the center of our being. This is what the women who broke the perfume over the Lord in the week before His crucifixion had that Peter did not. She knew Jesus was God and what He said was true. If He said He would die she trusted (no argument) Him and anointed Him for what lay ahead. If He said wait, she waited
until He was ready to move. Because of who He is she trusted Him because se loved Him. In others words she did not substitute her will and desires for His. He is God, He is Lord, He is to be revered and obeyed.
Over and over in Scripture we are told to wait on the Lord. Waiting requires trusting and trusting comes from love. What stops that from happening is doubt which leads us to take matters into our own hands. We become self-sufficient and that always moves our first love into second place – the position of dryness.