to nothing. When they were ready to accept this truth, they responded to the call of God. The men immediately dropped their nets, left everything
behind, and accepted the Lord’s invitation to join an inner circle of students.
It saddens me to know that some reading this will forfeit God’s surprises for the illusion of security. Simon and his companions didn’t remain in the shallows, content with what they could reasonably expect to receive from their own efforts. Against all reason, they obeyed the Lord’s command to do something unusual, something irrational (from a human perspective), something that expert fishermen would otherwise refuse to do.
They steered their boats toward deep waters—the wrong part of the lake at the wrong time of the day for catching fish. In response to their faith
decision, Jesus pulled off a miracle. Against all odds, the God of lakes, fish, and fishermen exercised His divine authority over creation to give His students a surprise gift.
I wonder how many surprise gifts we forfeit by playing it safe, by depending upon our own expertise, by seeing only impossibilities in the Lord’s commands.
Simon, Andrew, James, and John didn’t allow the greatest day of their fishing careers to distract them. That day, they determined to follow Jesus anywhere He led and to do anything He commanded. Even if it led them into deeper waters.
I find in this wonderful section of Scripture no fewer than six observations from the ministry of Christ that help you keep calm when you are in over your head.
1. Jesus chose not to minister to others all alone. Jesus had at His disposal the omnipotent power of the Almighty, but He deliberately involved others in His work. He could have pulled up all those fish with one arm with the power of God within Him, but He let Simon and the other fishermen pull up all those fish. He delegated tasks to these disciples in order to show them something about their future in
ministry (cf. 5:10). Jesus doesn’t need us to do His work. He calls us to work and He uses our efforts to accomplish His objectives, not because He needs us, but in order to share His victory with us. There is great comfort in that. When you’re sharing in His work, He delights to share the fruit of success—if not now, then later.
2. Jesus uses the familiar to do the incredible. Jesus met the disciples on their turf; He didn’t take them to the edge of heaven. He worked in their familiar scene, the fishing world. He got into their place of work, the boat. He had them use their nets and their skills. He engaged them in their trade. But in using the familiar, He lifted their eyes from the commonplace to glimpse what could be accomplished through His power.
3. Jesus moves us from the safety of what can be seen, to help us trust Him through the risks of the unseen. None of the work was done in shallow water. Jesus could have summoned the fish from the deep waters so the men could scoop them up from the shore, but He didn’t.
He directed the men to row out into the deep before instructing them to lower their nets. Not only is that where the big fish swim, but they had also already fished there and caught nothing. He wanted the men to trust Him, even though they saw no reason to obey.
4. Jesus sometimes rewards faithfulness by breaking our nets and filling our boats. None of those veterans of the sea ever dreamed of catching that many fish in one haul. The fruit of their obedience nearly sank their boats. When God’s hand is on a ministry, the potential is mind- boggling. We get a glimpse of it every once in a while, and it frightens spiritual leaders to death. “What is God getting us into?” we might ask.
“We can’t get our arms around it. We can’t stop the growth. The
revival won’t seem to settle down. People’s lives are getting changed.
There’s inner healing going on.”
5. Jesus conceals His surprises until we follow His leading. Everything was business as usual. Simon sat listening to the Lord’s teaching, maybe dozing off a little. Then Jesus nudged him for another casting of the net. Simon didn’t see anything supernatural. The water didn’t glow. The boat didn’t have a little halo over it. Jesus didn’t bring nets from heaven that tingle when touched. Simon rowed the same boat he had been in all night, using the same nets that had come up empty. The surprise came when the men put out to the deep and let down their nets in obedience. Only then did they see the supernatural working of the Lord.
6. Jesus reveals His objective to those who are willing to relinquish their security. After Simon and the other disciples obeyed the Lord’s
command and experienced His supernatural working, they were
permitted to see the greater plan Jesus had for them. Each step of faith revealed more of God’s plan. But they had to risk trusting the Lord first.