Luke 5:1-11 - Trusting God over myself

Scripture:

 

Luke 5:1-11
Now it happened that while the crowd was pressing around Him and listening to the word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret;

2 and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.

3 And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon's, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the people from the boat.

 

4 When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch."

5 Simon answered and said, "Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets."

 

6 When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break;

7 so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink.

8 But when Simon Peter saw that, he fell down at Jesus' feet, saying, "Go away from me Lord, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!"

9 For amazement had seized him and all his companions because of the catch of fish which they had taken;

10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, "Do not fear, from now on you will be catching men."

 

11 When they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him.

NASU

 

 

Thoughts:

 

Peter is obedient to the Lord in spite of his own rational objections (verse 5), and as a result, his life was never the same (verse 11).  Far too often, we fail to do this.  When the Lord gives us a command we don't like or understand, we drown out the Lord's voice with our own, leaning on our own understanding, rather than simply obeying Him. 

 

But look at what happens!  This catch of fish is clearly a miracle.  Peter and the other experienced fishermen recognize this (verses 8-10a).  Seeing God work, Peter is both amazed and humbled (verse 8-9).  This seems a healthy and natural response, he is awestruck and overcome by his own unholiness before Christ, God incarnate.

 

But Peter would have experienced none of this, had he listened to his own opinion over the command of Christ.  The gateway to experiencing all that God has for us, is faith.  It is through faith in Him that we are saved (Acts 16:31 "...Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved...") and through continuing to walk in faith, we will experience the best He has for us:

 

Proverbs 3:5-6
5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
And do not lean on your own understanding.
6 In all your ways acknowledge Him,
And He will make your paths straight.
NASU

 

 

Prayer:

 

Lord, help me to take You more seriously, and myself and others less seriously.  Let me just do what You say, hearing and responding to Your voice. 

 

Amen

Scripture quotations taken from the NASB.