Inside Look Continued....

Last week we paused at the moment when Peter hears the rooster crow and it waves over him that what Jesus told him had come true. Jesus lovingly told Peter that before the rooster would crow that he would deny Him three times. "No way," Peter thought. "I'll go to prison or to death before I would deny you." Cock a doodle do. Tragic, crushing, defeating disappointment. "I denied you three times." Head dropped. But not before Jesus looked right at Peter. Life stand still, Jesus looking.

The only way an inside look ever even happens for us in the first place is that when Jesus looks at us, it is ALWAYS an inside look. He sees it all. Everything is inside. Comforting. Sobering. Disappointing. A myriad of responses flow from our response to Jesus' constant inside look.

"It breaks my heart to think that God is disappointed with me," I wrote last week in words about what it is like to face our own hearts and the disappointment that can flow from it. Peter wasn't able to have an immediate conversation with Jesus about the moments of denial. We are. We can talk to Jesus about our denying and betraying constantly.

And so this is the critical continuation of taking an inside look. This is what we encounter.....and I share this in the words of a song that are deeply caring for my heart in these days.....drink this in.....

This is what meets our broken heart over thinking that God is disappointed in us.....

Mercy.

Mercy (by Amanda Cook, Bethel Music)

My past embraced My sin forgiven I’m blameless in Your sight My history rewritten Cause You delight in showing mercy And mercy triumphs over judgement Oh Love, great Love Fear cannot be found in You And there will never be a day You’re uncertain of the ones you choose So I will awake And spend my days Loving the One who has raised me up From death to life From wrong to right You’re making all things beautiful

THANK YOU JESUS! The truth that drips from these words is astounding. Let it be new today for you and me. "There will never be a day You're uncertain of the ones you choose." Even when You've prophesied a rooster's crow and accompanying denial, you're not uncertain of my choosing. That is not of this world.

Oh Love, great Love. Your look is always an inside look, so you know it all and still you don't push us away. You draw us in. You welcome. You kiss our weary, betraying hearts. Scandalous love affair. You with a denier like me. You with a betrayer like me. You with a whor like me. You with me. Rapturous, life altering love.

Mercy triumphs over disappointment.

Mercy triumphs over judgement.

There's more.

(Take a minute to listen to the beauty of these words in song. So powerful. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YeToZnloJqs )