Simon Peter was great friends with Jesus and undoubtedly loved Jesus from the depths of his heart.He was so sure about his love for Jesus that he thought it absurd when it was mentioned that he would ever deny Jesus, his dearest friend.
When Jesus Christ said to Peter, “this very night, before the rooster crows, you will disown me three times”. Peter responded, “Even if everyone else deserts you, I will never desert you.” – Matthew 26:31-35
It is so beautiful to see the beautiful gift of love displayed by Simon Peter but he was super confident in himself and for a slight moment forgot that he was able to love Jesus regardless through the help God and for him to continue to love Jesus endlessly, he needed the power and help of God.
As expected, his self and flesh failed him. He was accustomed at three different times and asked if he was a friend of Jesus and he blatantly denied being Jesus’s friend.
But thankfully Jesus had prayed for Peter to be strengthened in his moment of weakness and inability to show his love for Jesus to the world like he had declared sturdily.
King Solomon was another man who started off loving God and constantly seeking to please God. He pleased God even in his humble request for wisdom in order to govern God’s people appropriately- I Kings 3:10-15
And God blessed King Solomon with great a wisdom and wealth that Kings from far and wide came to listen to his wisdom- I Kings 4:34
But sadly as he governed God’s people and shared the wisdom God had given him,he forgot about God who had blessed him with the gifts.
He may have grown to the point where he had developed great mastery of his skills, talents and utilization of wisdom bestowed upon him that He forgot to ask for God’s help.
And it was so sad to read that King Solomon that had started so well ended up losing his kingdom to one of his servants because of his failure to acknowledge God in all his ways- I Kings 11:11-13
As Christians living in this time and age, there maybe times and temptations when we excessively rely on our strength,abilities and talents and forget to ask God to help us.
Even in our walk with Jesus, we may become boastful in our good works and deeds and forget that we have been saved by grace and we constantly need His grace to keep walking in faith in Him.
There may come the tendency to leave God out of the equation after numerous times of doing something successfully. But we should not forget that it is in Him we move and live and there is nothing we can accomplish if not by his help. And leaving God out of any aspect of our lives definitely will result in failure or superficial success.– Proverbs 16:18
Moreso,Over reliance on our strength,abilities and talents is a pointer to a prideful life and the word of God tells us that He resists the proud but gives grace to the humble – James 4:6
Therefore, I urge us today to reflect and double check on aspects or routines in our lives that we say to God, “I got this!” “I can handle this!” and decide to start to cultivate the habit of always asking God for His help always, no matter how little it may be. Proverbs 3:5-6
Let us not lose sight of the abundance of grace made available to us to achieve more in our humility before the Lord. No matter how anointed He may have made us, no matter how skillful we may have become, we should never lose sight of seeking for His help. His word tells us that we should seek Him in all our ways, and He will tell us what & which way to go – Proverbs 3:6
Seeking Him always shows him our humility & acknowledgement of our weakness and dependence on Him which pleases Him. And the order that follows this show of humility is abundance of grace(James 4:6) and magnification of the good works we may have done and will do by His power & might
I pray that the Holy Spirit keeps reminding us and helps us to keep seeking for His help, no matter how small it may be in Jesus name.