8^th January 2015

“When He had finished speaking. He said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets to catch some fish.” ”Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. BUT IF YOU SAY SO, I’LL LET THE NET DOWN AGAIN.””

 Luke 5:4-5 (NLT)

How often do we find ourselves dictating our lives to God instead of letting Him lead and guide us in the right direction? However, there is great blessing in obedience and submission, as we will see from today’s passage.

The scene has been set; Jesus has just finished talking to the crowds from a boat. He then turns to Simon and tells him to go out a little deeper to catch some fish. Simon’s response is astonishing. He could have easily said that the best time for fishing was at night not during the day, he could have laughed at Jesus’ assumption that a carpenter knew better than a professional fisherman, he could have even said that they had just finished cleaning the nets (v2). But He didn’t say any of these. He calls out Jesus as Master, which means leader or even boss. Then he astounds the reader with a submissive and humble response. But if you SAY so!!

Wow, what a response. Simon knew that there was something special about this man. In Luke’s version of the Gospel, we see in chapter 4, that Jesus has already shown His miraculous powers and even healed Simon’s mother in law. Yet Simon’s response here in chapter 5, is of utter submission knowing that if Jesus said something, it will come to pass! He didn’t question, huff and puff, make excuses or even say no, he simply obeyed the words of Jesus.

This is a great reminder for us to trust in God’s promises, trust when He leads us to places unknown, trust when we cant see what the future holds, simply submit and obey. We may not know what the future holds but we know the One who holds the future!!