1 On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. 7 They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. ~ Luke 5:1–7
Please notice that Jesus, knowing that Peter had not caught anything all night fishing, wanted to pay him for the use of his boat. But Peter knowing good, said it was useless to go back out there because there were no fish out there. Jesus, knowing best, told Peter to go ahead and push on out into the deep and let down his nets for a catch. Peter was tired and weary from working all night, now he had the added burden of washing his nets and will have to wash them again after catching nothing again. Peter knew good, and well, there were no fish out there to catch.
But Jesus insisted, go on, Peter, just try it. Peter did not want to go and try it. He wanted to feel sorry for himself and go home. But in obedience, he did as Jesus had instructed. The result? They caught so many fish that they had to call for help from their partners, and both boats were filled that they both began to sink.
The moral of the story is: even if it doesn’t make sense, even if you know that it is probably a useless thing to do if Jesus says to do it, do it. Just trust Him because we know good, but God knows best.
Father, help me to be obedient to Your word, no matter how silly and useless it may seem to me. Help me to understand that I might know good, but You know best. In Jesus’ name, I pray, amen.
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