“On one occasion, Jesus was preaching to a crowd on the shore of Lake Galilee. A vast multitude of people was pushing to get close to Jesus to hear the word of God. He noticed two fishing boats at the water’s edge, with the fishermen nearby, rinsing their nets. Jesus climbed into the boat belonging to Simon Peter and said to him, “Let me use your boat. Push it off a short distance away from the shore so I can speak to the crowd.” Jesus sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished, he said to Peter, “Now row out to deep water to cast your nets and you will have a great catch.” “Master,” Peter replied, “we’ve just come back from fishing all night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you insist, we’ll go out again and let down our nets because of your word.” When they pulled up their nets, they were shocked to see a huge catch of fish, and their nets were ready to burst! They waved to their business partners in the other boat for help. They ended up completely filling both boats with fish until they began to sink! When Simon Peter saw this astonishing miracle, he knelt at Jesus’ feet and begged him, “Go away from me, Master, for I am a sinful man!” Simon Peter and the other fishermen—including his fishing partners, Jacob and John, the sons of Zebedee—were awestruck over the miracle catch of fish. Jesus answered, “Do not yield to your fear, Simon Peter. From now on, you will catch men for salvation!””
The deep is the place of uncertainty and trust. The deep is the place that maybe looks illogical. But that is exactly the place where the Lord can work miracles... in a place of obedience, surrender and trust. It’s a place of great provision... and it is a place where we get more firmly established in our faith. As I was sitting with the Lord this morning and asking Him about this passage, He prompted me to look also at the story of where Peter walked on water. Where he got out of the boat and walked on water to Jesus in the middle of the storm. Do you know it was the same water? It was the Sea of Galilee both times. So where he met and trusted Jesus for the first time, he was empowered and emboldened to walk out and experience a miracle of trust that was exponentially greater. I hope this is a great encouragement for us to trust the Lord, whether we are in a place where He’s asking us to push out into the deep or a calling us out out the boat in the middle of the storm.
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