"When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, "Oh Lord, please leave me – I'm such a sinful man." (Luke 5:8 NLT)
This first encounter between Jesus and Simon Peter serves as a great reminder: God doesn’t do things the way we do. The divine agenda looks different, but it gets better results. And the reality is, it takes us a minute to catch up with what God is actually accomplishing.
Simon didn’t see what Jesus was doing until it was very nearly done. This is often the case for us, too. Our human frames inhibit our perspective.
Simon had been fishing all night as the Galileans do. He had spent all his energies doing things the way he knew how, and by the time Jesus showed up on his shore, he was exhausted and empty-handed.
I’ve had those days – the ones where I’ve tried every trick of the trade to turn my attitude around and still, it’s fruitless. When I’ve reached that point, all I want to do is go home, crawl in bed and begin again after a good eight hours. Surely, Simon Peter felt similar.
Yet, instead the sun came up to a sermon. A tired and testy Peter was pressed into still further service. The strange prophet wanted to preach from his boat. Simon didn’t know the man from Adam, so he wouldn’t leave his vessel unattended. I can picture him in the prow, counting down to his pallet while Jesus took His time with His words. Was Peter’s patience tried?
Finally, the Teacher finished His exhortation and Simon Peter was probably halfway to bed in his head. But Jesus had other plans. “Now go out where it is deeper, and let your nets down to catch some fish.”
Poor Peter; all he wanted was some rest and the Stranger required still more? We can hear the resistance in his statement: “Master, we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if You say so, I’ll let down the nets again.”
It’s clear that Simon Peter didn’t understand yet, to his credit, he obeyed anyway! He stated his case and then proceeded in compliance. It seems God hers our objection, but ultimately He’s looking for obedience.
Simon Peter’s surrender pays off in a big way. In a matter of moments, his nets were bursting with blessing that only the Almighty could have arranged. Simon was suddenly wide awake, grappling with the goodness of God right there in the bow of his very own boat.
All at once, Simon Peter could see exactly what God was accomplishing in his story.
We are like Peter, aren’t we? There are seasons where we trudge through the night; going through the motions and coming up empty-handed. Morning comes but our nets are still needful. We sit through sermons, sleepy and doubtful. We obey, though we still don’t understand. Then, at some sweep of the second hand, something miraculous happens and it all clicks into place. Suddenly, we can see clearly what God was doing all along. Our ordinary existence is overcome by His glory and we are acutely aware of our sinful contribution.
What if we borrowed from Simon Peter’s testimony today? If amidst our fruitless night and sleepy sermon reception, we reminded our souls: God is doing something and it’s going to be good! For humans, it tough to believe in what we can’t quite see. That is where faith lives, though. It’s the believing without seeing that builds up our trust in a good and sovereign God.
"Faith shows the reality of what we hope for; it is the evidence of things we cannot see." (Hebrews 11:1 NLT)
Lord, help us tonight – in the boat of unproductaon, to hear Your voice and trust Your word. Keep us awake and alert through Your teaching. Help us serve with vigor in spite of exhaustion. Let us leap up in obedience even as You ask us to do things that don’t yet make sense. We still trust that the miraculous is coming. Provision and purpose are in Your capable hands and when the time is right, we will see it. Until then, we work and listen and comply in complete faith. Thy will be done, our comprehension not required. Amen.