Devotional:

“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. 8 But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” 9 For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, 10 and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” 11 And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.” — Luke 5:1-11

We all know what it feels like to be frustrated and tired. Have you spent an entire day unproductive or unsuccessful at work? Or maybe you had a list of things to do at home, and instead, one kid left his lunch at home, the other kid left her uniform at home and your husband forgot to tell you there was an important lunch that you were supposed to attend?

Maybe you’ve lost your job and have been trying so hard for weeks or months and no one will hire you. Perhaps all you want is to have children, and no matter how hard you try and how many doctors you see, it’s just not happening. Maybe you’ve been single for way longer than you ever thought you’d be and now you can’t understand why God isn’t giving you what you want.

Peter was frustrated and tired that morning. He had fished all night, caught nothing and was on the shore cleaning his nets and, I’m sure, anxious to get home to get some sleep. Here comes Jesus, a Rabbi, telling a professional fisherman to go back out and try again. I doubt that stirred up warm and fuzzy feelings at that point. In verse five, we can see that Peter respects Jesus, calling him master, but is slightly put off by what Jesus is telling him to do. I mean, what did He know about fishing, and who was he to tell Peter how to fish?

But, because he respected Jesus and had seen Him do many miraculous things, including healing his mother-in-law, Peter obeyed. And that obedience, even with all the frustration and exhaustion, allowed Jesus to show He had power and authority over Peter’s less-than-ideal circumstances.

We know by reading this same account in Matthew and Mark that Andrew, Peter’s brother, was fishing with him that day. They were probably business partners. And the other boat that came to help them drag the fish in belonged to the brothers James and John. This number of fish was nothing they had ever seen before, and for it to happen right after they had spent hours and hours coming up empty in the exact location was a miracle!

That was a pivotal moment for Peter that day. His eyes were finally opened to Who Jesus really was. He had been around Jesus a lot already and respected Him as a Rabbi and healer up until this point. But when he saw the miracle of the fish, something changed. Peter saw that this was Jesus the Messiah. He was not only doing the work of God, He was God.

At that moment, Peter became aware of his sin and unworthiness and fell to Jesus’s knees in fear, begging to be left alone, for he didn’t deserve to be in Jesus’s presence. This was no longer a healthy respect for a man of God. This was reverence for the Son of God. So, Jesus picked him up, and even though he did not deserve to be in the presence of God, He told him not to be afraid. Jesus said you’re not going to be fishing out there anymore. You will be fishing for lost souls with me by my side.

That day Peter went from ordinary to extraordinary through the simple act of obedience. Jesus called Peter, Andrew, James and John to follow Him. The first disciples, and this meant leaving everything behind. Family, friends, fishing boats, jobs…everything. That radical encounter with Jesus led to radical transformation, which led to radical action. They abandoned it all to follow Jesus.

God pursues us through our frustration, weakness, exhaustion and brokenness. We don’t have to have it all together for Him to use us for His glory because that would make no sense. How would He be able to show us His power and might if we only came to Him when everything was going well? We are not perfect and are constantly in need of Jesus through the struggles and the blessings.

So often, we let our bad days, circumstances and feelings of failure keep us from coming to God or obeying God. Maybe, if that had been us that day, we would’ve said to Jesus, “Thanks, Rabbi, but I’m tired and I just want to go home and get some sleep.” Wow, how easy would that have been for Peter to do? And that could very well have been his first thought. And I’m willing to bet he doubted himself the entire time he was rowing back out to cast that net. But Peter’s obedience produced fruit. What if he had not been obedient? What if he had missed all that Jesus had for him that day just because he was frustrated and tired?

There are times in my life when I have missed out on God’s blessings because I thought I knew what was best for me. How about you? Can you think of a moment when you ignored God because you thought your way was better? Or did you say, “Ok, God, I don’t understand why you are telling me to do this, but I am going to do it because I know you are a good, good Father, and you will never leave or forsake me.”

Thinking you have it all under control is the most dangerous lie the Enemy will whisper to you. When you say to yourself, “I got this,” what you are really saying is, “No way God, I know better than you. I got this.”

Never underestimate the power of Jesus in your life. Whether He blesses you or breaks you, answers your prayer the way you want or doesn’t, teaches you a hard truth or pursues you to something much bigger than what you are currently doing, obedience to Him always leads to a life of abundance.