“And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’” ~ Luke 5:4
In part 1, we looked at how God rewards people for doing His will even if they don’t realize it, or even if it was something they would want to do naturally. In Part 2, let’s look at the obedience of someone who might not necessarily want to do God’s will, but does it out of obedience.
Jesus was preaching by the lake of Gennesaret on one occasion when the crowds became too big and started pressing in on Him. He spotted two empty boats and saw their owners washing their nets as they listened to the sermon. Their faces were probably tired and withdrawn from the disappointment of the night because they had caught no fish.
Jesus gets into Simon Peter’s boat and asks him to push off from the shore so He could finish up His message. After the benediction, Jesus wants to pay for the use of the boat. He isn’t carrying a money pouch with gold or silver coins in, so He does the next best thing, He gives them what he does have, a miracle. He instructs Peter to launch out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch.
This is a seasoned fisherman here. He was toiling all night and caught nothing. Now the tide has changed, and the fish have stopped biting. Besides, he had just finished washing and cleaning his nets. He knows there is no fish out there, and the thought of cleaning those nets again is overwhelming. Nonetheless, Peter responds, “And Simon answered, ‘Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word, I will let down the nets’” (Luke 5:5). Peter was a good Jewish boy, taught to be respectful to the Rabbi.
Though he did not want to do it, though he did not have a whole lot of faith in it, he did it anyway in obedience. The result? Well, let’s just say he didn’t just need to wash those nets because the catch was so huge the nets began to break. He had to signal for his partners to come and give him a hand with all the fish.
I’m telling you, God is no man’s debtor, He will pay for whatever He uses, including your time. So, “…stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain” (1 Cor 15:58).
Our Heavenly Father, thank you for being a good, good Father. Thank you that You do not use us up and then disregard us. You not only take note, but you repay us according to what You’ve used, and then You will overpay us. Help us to be steadfast in good works. Look and see LORD, at what we do LORD and repay us according to Your heavenly standard.
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