29 May

At the end of his life, Sir Winston Churchill said, ‘When I look back on all these worries, I remember the story of the old man who said on his deathbed that he had had a lot of trouble in his life, most of which had never happened!’

I love the way Eugene Peterson translates this passage in The Message: ‘Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I will show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me – watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly’ (vv.28–30).

As Corrie Ten Boom pointed out, ‘Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.’ David praises God ‘who daily bears our burdens’ (v.19). Burdens here may include many things. One of the burdens that God bears for us daily is the weight of worry, stress and anxiety.

In his book Affluenza, the psychologist Oliver James points out that ‘almost a quarter of Britain suffers serious emotional distress, such as depression and anxiety, and another quarter are on the verge thereof. Put bluntly, half of us are in a bad way... those earning over £50,000... were recently shown to be more prone to depression and anxiety than those earning less.’

 Peter realised, as most of us do from time to time, that he had failed Jesus. A sense of failure can be a great burden.

This passage is not the end of Peter’s story. After his resurrection, Jesus met with Peter and reinstated him, forgiving him for this failure and commissioning him once more (21:15–25). With Jesus, failure is never final.

Although Peter failed him, Jesus took the burden of his failure, forgave him, reinstated him and used him as powerfully as anyone in human history.