In Luke 22:31-34 two requests are made to God and he answers both requests in the affirmative. Satan asks God for permission to test Peter’s faith and Jesus, knowing that Peter would fail, asks God that Peter’s faith might endure the failure and become stronger.
Keep in mind that Jesus could have requested that Satan not be permitted to test Peter. That would be consistent with Jesus’ actions when Satan tested Jesus after fasting for 40 days in the wilderness… he rejected every request that Satan made. But Jesus didn’t do that… he needed for Peter to be tested and to fail so that he could become stronger.
Jesus informed Peter what would happen and by doing so gave Peter tools to resist Satan. The tool of knowing the test was coming and the tool of knowing the result of the test.
After the failure Peter could reflect back on Jesus’ care for him and understand that the failure was completely his… Peter ”owned” the failure… it was all on him.
Jesus also prepared Peter by telling him not to be too overwhelmed by the failure but to use the lesson he had learned to strengthen the faith of others. He had a job to do.
Lessons for us.
- God may allow Satan to tempt us.
- Temptation and failure can make us stronger.
- Jesus is in our corner praying that our faith will survive whatever temptation Satan throws at us.
- If Jesus can pray for Peter to have stronger faith then we can follow his example and pray for the faith of our fellow Christians.
- Faith doesn’t rest. It works for the benefit of others.
- Satan won the initial contest with Peter but lost every single one after that.
