Anyone who owns a car knows that, occasionally, the tires can go out of alignment. Potholes are one of the biggest culprits in taking your tires out of alignment. After a snowy winter, roads may be full of potholes, and hitting these potholes can take tires that were once nicely aligned and throw tires that were once nicely aligned into misalignment. Misaligned tires can wear unevenly, causing you to need new tires, the car’s fuel efficiency can be diminished, increasing your gas costs, and the steering may pull in one direction, affecting the safe handling of the car. The solution to these problems is to have the tires realigned, restoring them back to the correct alignment.
In Luke 22:31, Jesus warned Simon Peter of this very thing. On the night before He died, Jesus said, “Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift each of you like wheat.” Jesus knew that when He was taken from them, Simon Peter and the other disciples would be scattered like sheep without a shepherd. Their alignment would be off, and their faith would be shaken. But Jesus also said that He had interceded in prayer for Simon Peter, praying that his faith would not fail so that when he had repented and turned back to Jesus, Simon Peter would be able to strengthen his brothers (Luke 22:32). When Simon Peter protested that he was ready to go to prison with Jesus and even die for Him, if necessary, Jesus predicted that Simon Peter would deny that he even knew Jesus three times that very night (Luke 22:33-34).
As Jesus predicted, Simon Peter did deny Jesus. Seeing Jesus arrested and brought to trial before the Sanhedrin shook Peter’s faith to the core. Satan threw a pothole at Peter that threw his faith out of alignment. As followers of Christ, we need to keep our hearts and our lives aligned with Him. But we have an enemy who, like a pothole, will try to throw our faith out of alignment. Our enemy will try to place doubts in our minds, shaking our faith when trials and tribulations come our way. And when our faith is shaken to its core we may deny Jesus, just as Simon Peter did. But the good news is that, when our faith is taken out of alignment, there is a way to have it realigned. That way was given by Jesus in Luke 22:32. We must repent and turn back to Jesus. When we do, not only will our faith be realigned, but we will also be able to strengthen the faith of our brothers and sisters who may be struggling.
A Worshiper's Journal 