"And Jesus said to Simon, 'Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.' And when they had brought their boats to land,they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:10-11)
First encounters with someone,
especially someone famous can be fun right? Imagine Simon busy in life working
at his everyday job of fishing. After a long night without any results, he is
washing his nets. Perhaps he is frustrated. Perhaps he is talking to the
Father, much like Tevyev did in Fiddler on the Roof. I can hear Simon saying, “LORD, I
know our fathers wandered in the wilderness for forty years, you fed them but
they complained. LORD, must we also wander all over this sea, without
complaining, and yet you will not also feed us?” Little did Simon know what was
ahead for him on this typical workday.
Simon is busy washing his nets.
Jesus comes over, climbs into Simon’s boat and asks Him for a favor. Simon
interrupted his work and put the boat out a little from the land. Then Jesus
sits in the boat and teaches the people gathered on the shore. Whether,
Simon was in the boat with Jesus or returned to washing nets nearby, it is
feasible to imagine Simon heard the teaching of Jesus that day. The life-giving
words from God’s mouth fed the souls of the hungry listeners.
After Jesus
finished speaking, He asked Simon to “put
out into the deep and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4) Simon ever the
businessman, understood his own work and the flow of fish, when they would
be biting etc. argued the wisdom of Jesus’ request. “We toiled all night and took nothing!” (Luke 5:5) “But at your word I
will let down the nets.” Simon heard Jesus speak. Something of what
Jesus said, or the manner in which He said it, touched Simon to the point where
he denied his own credible knowledge of the situation and by faith, acted upon
the word of Jesus. The result was not disappointing.
The children’s Sunday School song
puts it like this: “They caught so many fish that they couldn’t pull it (the
net) in…out on the deep blue sea.” Simon was astonished and his response was that
of a man touched by the word and the acts of God. He humbly asked Jesus to
leave him, “I am a sinful man,” Simon said. Perhaps Simon was doubting in his
heart all the way out to the deep. Perhaps he was nursing his frustration when
the LORD provided the bounty Simon did not expect. This makes me realize God’s
works are not dependent on what I think or say. God’s works are dependent on
what HE wants to accomplish and for the purposes HE has established. This
miracle brought glory to God, gave provision to the people and made loyal
followers of the men who experienced it.
Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be
afraid…after this you will be catching men.” Simon must have feared he
was not worthy to experience God’s provision in the way that he did. But Jesus
allayed his fears and lifted Simon to a new life of faith and a new profession
that was uniquely tied to what he had done all his life. Simon, Andrew, James
and John took a step of faith and followed Jesus to places and times yet unknown.
This is the faith we need today in order to abandon ourselves to God’s plans.
We cannot lean on our own understanding but rather step toward the uniqueness
of what God is desiring to do in, with and through us. When we do take the step
of faith, Jesus is there with His word to say, “Don not be afraid.”
Pastor Chuck Smith used to always
say, “Where God guides, God provides.” I believe this was true in the lives of
the first disciples and it remains true in our lives today. All we must do is
follow HIS lead and use the tools God has given us to understand His will—the wisdom
of His word, the Spirit’s peace in our hearts and the godly counsel of trusted
others. If we do this, we need never be afraid. We may freely follow the Lord in full
faith with abandon to see the miraculous occur; all the while using the wisdom from His word and the tools He has already provided in our preparation for the good works we are to walk
in. We should never be afraid to follow Jesus, even to the ends of the earth.
