Former Blackout Artist

Simon answered, “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

In yesterday morning’s devotional in Luke 4, we read about Jesus being tested in the wilderness prior to beginning His earthly ministry. And we may remember that the devil came to tempt Jesus not at the beginning of his 40-day trial, but near the end when He was at His very weakest.

In the very next chapter, Luke tells us that it is Peter who appears to be at his very weakest. He and his friends have just spent the entire night trolling the Sea of Galilee for fish, with nothing to show for it.

Now… I’m very familiar with fishing. I would occasionally go with my father to a lake a few hours away and we would launch the boat and go out to that one special spot that only my dad knew about – where the fish were known to gather. This was long before “fish finders” were invented – these nifty sonar devices that actually shows how many fish are swimming around underneath the boat. And sometimes (more often than I care to remember to be honest) we’d sit there with our lines in the water and there would be nothing. Not even the slightest nibble. And we would change from worms to minnows, then minnows back to worms, and try all sorts of different things in hopes of finding what they were hungry for. The only things on that lake that seemed to be hungry were the mosquitoes, which judging by the tiny red welts on my arms and legs, were very hungry. And after about 6 hours of my dad hearing me ask him over and over, “When are we going to catch a fish, dad? I thought you were a good fisherman?” my father would finally give up and say, “Well, they’re just not biting today. Let’s go home.”

For me personally, catching a fish was the icing on the cake. I was just overjoyed to be out on the lake, in a boat, with my dad. Whether we caught any fish or not didn’t matter to me. But apparently it mattered a lot more to my father. He would get so frustrated that he would cuss and complain all the way home. For him, his trophy was an iced cooler full of fish in the back of the truck. He had a reputation for being a great fisherman. But for whatever reason, his fishing prowess took the day off when he and I would go.

So when Simon told Jesus, “We’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything,” I know what that feels like. I saw how tired and frustrated it was for my father, and he was doing this for enjoyment! Not his livelihood!

Peter was ready to go home. He’d spent the past couple of hours cleaning and repairing his nets, had everything neatly stowed away. Then this guy Jesus puts a kink in Peter’s plans and asks to use his boat as a teaching platform. We can almost hear him sigh and mumble to himself, “You’ve got to be kidding me…” But out of respect, Peter agrees.

And who knows how long Jesus sat there on Peter’s boat teaching the people on the shore. Luke doesn’t provide those details. It could’ve been an hour, maybe even a couple of hours. But Jesus wraps everything up and just before He’s ready to have Peter paddle back to shore, He says, “Simon, I’m really in the mood for some fish. So how about going out a little further into the deeper water and letting down the nets for a catch.”

As far as Peter was concerned, Jesus knew nothing about fish – He was a carpenter. And carpenters have no idea about catching fish. Peter was the fisherman. He’d done this 6 days a week for most of his life. He knew that the fish weren’t active in that hour of the day. And we can easily sense his tiredness and frustration in his reply: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything.” I think Peter was being reserved in his reply. What he probably wanted to say was something along the lines of, “Hey, I let you use my boat. I’m tired. My buddies are tired. What you’re telling us to do is pointless. We just wanna go home and get some rest.”

Peter was frustrated. Here are all these people with Jesus, standing by the shore of Galilee and watching him and his buddies come in from a night of fishing, and he has absolutely nothing to show for his efforts. And not only has he allowed this stranger to use his boat, but now He wants a guided fishing tour. And yet, something told Simon to obey Jesus’ command. “But because you say so, I’ll do it.”

Even though you’re a carpenter and I’m the fishing expert, I’ll do it. Even though I’ve worked hard all night and I’ve not slept in two days, I’ll do it. Even though I’ve got to be right back out here in several hours and deal with this frustration all over again, “I’ll do it.”

Just as the devil had approached Jesus at His weakest point, here is Jesus meeting Peter in his. This wasn’t about the Son of Man doing something nice for Peter in exchange for allowing Him the use of his boat. He was calling Peter to come follow Him. “You think this is a large catch? All of the fish you have ever caught are just small grains of sand compared to the number of people you will lead to me, Simon. Come, follow me.”

Friend, Jesus meets us where we are. Tired, frustrated, broken in spirit, lonely and afraid, weak and desperate… And yet we think we know better, don’t we? What does He know about loneliness? About pain and suffering? About being hated and rejected? About being mocked and looked down on? What does He know, this carpenter from Nazareth?

Jesus knows you. He knows where you are. He knows what you’re dealing with. He knows everything about your life. He knows what you’re afraid of. He knows what motivates you. He even knows your deepest secrets, those things you’re too ashamed to tell anyone about.

And yet, despite all of our weaknesses and frailties and failures and faults, He meets us where we are. And He invites us to put out into the deep, to go out just a little further than the edge of the water, and to trust Him.

Will you?