Dave spoke this morning from Luke 5:1-11. Here, we see four fishermen having ‘one of those days’, a time when nothing seemed to be going right for them. They had been fishing all night and had caught nothing, and for men who made a living from fishing, this was no small problem. Jesus was preaching and used Peter’s boat to be able to address the crowd; then, when the crowd had dispersed, He (a landlubber and carpenter by trade!) gave them advice on where and when to fish!
There must have been a sense of weariness and cynicism in the four fishermen on hearing this command. They must have thought ‘what’s the point?’ They felt frustrated and inadequate, having not caught any fish all night, and when we have failed so often, it’s really hard to risk failure one more time. Yet because he was obedient, Peter agreed to this apparently madcap scheme, only to catch such a large haul of fish that the nets began to break and the boats began to sink!
Peter’s response (‘But because you say so, I will let down the nets‘) reminds us that we need to do what Jesus tells us, however much His words seem to contradict our knowledge, wisdom and understanding. God wants to give us abundant life (John 10:10) and His abundance can come from nothing and from nowhere. We need to understand that when we obey what God says, His grace to us is not without effect. (1 Cor 15:10) If we do what He says when He says, we will see amazing things in our lives.
