Luke 5:1-11
Jesus had been teaching a group of people on the shore of Lake Gennesaret. He told Simon Peter (as well as James and John) to go out into the deep waters and let down their nets. Verse five follows:
“Master,” Simon answered, “we worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I will let down the nets.”
As the familiar scripture goes, the catch was plentiful and Jesus instructed the three to abandon their nets and become ‘fishers of men’.
I can only imagine how incredibly weary one might be after a long night of casting nets. In addition to the physical strain, these men must have been disheartened to have nothing to show for their night of work. Maybe Simon Peter was thinking that it would be a waste of time to try again, or he wanted to grumble about how the only thing he’d like to try to catch now would be a nap. His actual words and actions, however, were doubtless and obedient.
Obedience and faith are so often interwoven. As parents do, I try to teach our kids to do things for themselves. I sometimes find myself trying to get one of them to surrender a toy in order for me to demonstrate how it works. Two-year-old Devon, for the most part, understands when I want to show her something. JT, at fourteen months, seems to think I just want to take away that precious toy to be cruel. Devon has a greater degree of faith in me, so (in instances like this) she is more obedient. In order for them to see what I want them to see, they have to trust me and do what I ask.
In order for us to see what God wants us to see, we have to trust Him and do what He expects of us. We as Christians are meant to be fishers of men. We need only cast the net by being faithful witnesses. My children are learning to trustingly heed my requests, just as all of us are children of God, on a similar journey of spiritual growth. I hope that today’s lesson from Luke inspire us all to become more aware of our own faithfulness to Him.
Natalie Wray
