#40: DO YOU KNOW “THE LOOK”?

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The LORD turned round and looked straight at Peter, and Peter remembered that the LORD had said to him, “Before the cock crows tonight, you will say three times that you do not know me.” Peter went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22:61-62 (GNB).

Peter’s denial is one of the most striking incidents in the buildup of Jesus’ journey to the cross. When Jesus was arrested, scriptures recorded of His disciples that they all forsook him and fled (Mark 14:50). But there was this disciple that followed the train till the courtyard of the High Priest. He was so zealous for the LORD even at the hour of His condemnation [at least he was a “glance distance” away from his Master]. Zeal was not enough, especially when its foundation was boasting in the arms of flesh, because there at the courtyard, he was confronted, and he denied his Master three times.

This may look like a light issue, but when you study the time interval between each of these denials, you will realize that Peter was having the fun of his life- he was saving his skin from shame. There was some time lag between the first denial and the second as well as between the second and the third (which was almost an hour interval according to verse59), yet Peter was not realizing what he was doing; until the LORD gazed at him.

Peter was able to understand the look. He recognized it as the look of reminder, it was a look of mercy and compassion. When the look penetrated into Peter’s soul, he remembered what Jesus had said earlier. His reaction was repentance.

In your state of sin have you realized the gaze of God on you? Were you able to recognize the look? Did it remind you of God’s Word?

The Son of Man came to SEEK and to SAVE the lost. Luke 19:10

Are you lost in your sins to a point you feel it is normal, that it is the only way you can keep body and soul alive? God has come today to SEEK you in your lost state. His gaze upon you today is to remind you of this sole mission of salvation. Jesus knows your weaknesses, your besetting sins, and His eyes are upon you that you will not be lost (John 17:12b). Peter went out and wept bitterly. There has to be a conscious repentance -a coming out of your present location. The Lord’s gaze comes with grace to lift you from the pit of sin to the platform of repentance.

THOUGHT: When we gaze upon the face of mercy, how will we respond? Will we allow it to transfigure us, or will we turn from the look in despair?

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