FAILURE IS NOT PERMANENT
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“Put out into deep water”—Luke 5:4
Luke 5: 1-11 is the account of Jesus using one of the fishing
boats that had been used in fruitless
fishing the night before. Jesus instructed
Simeon Peter to take his boat out into deep water, but notice that Jesus didn’t
tell Peter how far out to go that decision was left up to Peter. This particular passage of scripture is a
great encouragement to all who have ever tried something and seemingly failed.
Let’s look at some principles that we can learn from this passage of
scripture.
Now it happened that while Jesus was standing by the
Lake of Gennesaret (Sea of Galilee), with the people crowding all around Him
and listening to the word of God; 2 that He saw two boats lying at
the edge of the lake, but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing
their nets. 3He
got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little
distance from the shore. And He sat down and began teaching the crowds from the boat. 4 When He had finished speaking, He
said to Simon [Peter], “Put out into the deep water and
lower your nets for a catch [of fish].” 5 Simon replied, “Master, we worked
hard all night [to the point of exhaustion] and caught nothing [in our nets],
but at Your word I will [do as you say and] lower the nets [again].”
6 When they had done this,
they caught a great number of fish, and their nets were [at the point of]
breaking; 7 so
they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And
they came and filled both of the boats [with fish], so that they began to sink.
8 But when Simon Peter saw
this, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Go away from me, for I am a sinful
man, O Lord!” 9 For
he and all his companions were completely astounded at the catch of fish which
they had taken; 10 and
so were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon [Peter].
Jesus said to Simon, “Have no fear; from now on you will
be catching men!” 11 After
they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed Him
[becoming His disciples, believing and trusting in Him and following His example
(Amplified Bible).
1.
Be available: When Jesus had need of a boat, Peter was
available to help Him out (vs. 3). Don’t
be so busy trying to make your own plans work out. Be available for Jesus, to give you new
direction.
2.
Hear—don’t
interrupt: Don’t interrupt when
Jesus is speaking to you (vs. 4). Doing
so will cause you to hear, only half of what He is saying. Because we think that we got it or that we understand,
we interrupt Jesus speaking to us, about half-way through a conversation. Countless times visions, dreams and goals are
not fulfilled because we have done our “own thing.” All because we didn’t wait to hear the rest of
what, Jesus was saying to us.
3.
Be Obedient: Peter voiced his concerns to Jesus; however, he didn’t allow self-doubt to stop him from being
obedient (vs. 5).
4.
Be willing to go
deeper: When Jesus told Peter
to go into the deep, He didn’t tell him how deep to go (vs. 4) The depth of the water into which you and I
go depends upon how completely we have cut our ties to past failures, or ways
in which we have done things in the past.
