Walk In Faith
“Because you say so, I will let down the nets.” Luke 5:5
Nothing is so frustrating as attempting to do something you know is a waste of time and effort.
These experienced fishermen had toiled for several hours and spent all night deploying their best efforts yet without success. So when Jesus says, “Try it again!” They must have felt it was an absolute waste of time.
They must have thought, “Should we comply to be nice or refuse to do what everything in our experience and knowledge tells us is an absolute waste of time and effort?” Their faith was confronted with an absurd impossibility. Only God could make that happen. The natural and the supernatural were on a collision course.
Peter responded, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets” Luke 5:5.
What Peter said gives us an insight into his thinking. He began by using a word of address translated, Master. It was used for officials, and the word, incidentally, meant one who bears the burden and responsibility of leadership.
Six times Luke tells how men called Jesus Master. “Master,” says Peter, “we’ve tried it all night, but at your word, we’ll do it again.”
Everything hinged on one word – but, or nevertheless. With that one word, he does an about-face. The impossible gives way to the potential of faith. The absurd yields to the anticipation of the supernatural.
The situation facing Peter and the disciples hasn’t gone away, either. It is one that you will face if you have not already done so. Circumstances say, “There is no hope,” yet the Word of God says Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Faith says, “God can,” and despair says, “I’ve tried everything.”
“At your word, I will let down the nets,” says Peter.
That’s where knowledge of what God has promised helps you believe Him when natural circumstances are bleak and dark. The word but or nevertheless means you stop facing the storm and do an about-face, looking towards heaven.
And what happened when Peter and his friends let down their net? “When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signalled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink” Luke 5:6-7.
Honestly, that’s what we all like, an immediate answer over and above anything we could ask or hope for; however, there are times when you have to do the about-face in faith and keep walking with your head high, believing that He is in charge of the circumstances. “Nevertheless, I will trust you.”