Words of Hope Daily Devotional
The Disciple Who Denied Him
Read: Matthew 26:31-35, 69-75
And immediately the rooster crowed. (v. 74)
Many of the people who welcomed Jesus with loud “Hosannas” on Palm Sunday must also have shouted, “Crucify him!” on Good Friday. It’s perilously easy to betray or deny Christ; all you have to do is fall in with the crowd.
Having done that in the high priest’s courtyard, Peter could have gone on with them in rejecting the Lord, and who knows where that would have ended? But then one small, seemingly random thing happened. He heard a rooster’s crow. It wasn’t extraordinary, it was utterly ordinary. But this little sound was Peter’s wake-up call. His soul was pierced by the memory of Jesus’s warning (v. 34), and he went outside and wept bitter tears of repentance.
That rooster’s crow was a sound of grace. You know how it goes when we get caught up in sin. We stifle our conscience until it finally falls silent. We become deadened—to guilt, to truth, even to God. But then somewhere, somehow, a rooster crows. Maybe it’s in a sermon or through a comment in a friend’s conversation or a verse of Scripture or a line from a song or an old memory that suddenly flashes through our mind. Whatever it is, something quickens our conscience again, and we realize what we have done.
If you hear a rooster crow in your life, don’t ignore it. Recognize in that moment the Lord’s voice, calling you to repent. It could be a very small sound. But through such things souls are saved.
As you pray, ask God to help you hear his voice in the small things.
About the Author
Rev. David Bast
David Bast is a writer and pastor who served for 23 years as the President and Broadcast Minister for Words of Hope. In his more than 40 years of devotional writing and preaching, he has been encouraging believers around the world to be shaped by God and his Word.
Prior to his ministry and work at Words of Hope, Dave served as a pastor for 18 years in congregations in the Reformed Church in America. A graduate of Hope College and Western Theological Seminary, he is the author of nine devotional books and Bible studies, includingWhy Doesn't God Act More Like God,Christ in the Psalms, andA Gospel for the World.
Dave and his wife, Betty Jo, have four children and eight grandchildren. Dave enjoys reading, growing tomatoes, and avidly follows the Detroit Tigers.
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