Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take. [Proverbs 3:5-6 (NLT)]
After using Peter’s boat as a preaching platform, Jesus told him to take the boat out to deeper water and let down his nets. Fishing was a way of life in Galilee and Peter, Andrew, James, and John probably started fishing with their fathers when they were just youngsters. Can you imagine their reaction to this inexperienced carpenter’s son from Nazareth telling them how to fish? Didn’t the rabbi know that net fishing was done at night when the fish were more active and less likely to see the linen nets? Having fished all night, the men were tired. By that time, they’d cleaned their nets and hung them to dry; they were ready to go home, eat, and get some sleep. Experience told them that if they’d caught nothing that night, they certainly weren’t going to catch anything in the light of day! Nevertheless, even though Peter balked at Jesus’ unusual command, he and his partners reloaded their gear, took out their boats, and let down their nets.
Fishing in deep water was done with a rectangular 3-layered, 500-foot, five-sectioned trammel net and two boats were used. After the first boat stealthily dropped the nets, the second would cause such a commotion with noise and splashing that the frightened fish would flee into the nets and get trapped in the inner mesh. The previous night, the men probably dropped and raised the trammel fifteen times to no avail but, that morning, their nets became so full of fish that they began to tear. The second boat was needed to hold the overflowing nets and both boats were on the verge of sinking from the weight. It seems that Jesus rewarded Peter and his partners quite handsomely for the use of Peter’s boat and their obedience to his instructions!
The second time Jesus told these experienced fishermen how to fish occurred after His resurrection. The men had spent an entire night casting their net with nothing to show for it when Jesus called from the shore and told them to cast it from the right side of the boat. Again, Jesus’ directions made no sense. Any fisherman knows that changing a net’s location by only a few feet won’t change the outcome—if the fish aren’t on the left side of the boat, they’re not on the right. Moreover, a net never was cast from the starboard side where the rudder mechanism was located. When pulling it up, the net could get tangled in the steering board, damage the boat, and tear. Nevertheless, the disciples did as Jesus directed, dropped it on the right side, and had another miraculous catch—one so heavy that, unable to haul the net into the boat, they had to drag it into shore!
These two stories demonstrate the obedience of faith along with the blessings that accompany obedience. Jesus’ fishing instructions weren’t just unconventional to the seasoned fishermen, they seemed unreasonable and imprudent. Nevertheless, the disciples trusted in the Lord rather than their own wisdom, left the results to Him, and were blessed with more than they could have imagined or hoped for.
We don’t have to understand the why of God’s directions, we must simply trust and obey Him! These stories tell us that faith-fueled obedience yields blessings. Rather than a boatload of fish, however, it will be a boatload of blessings beyond our wildest expectations both in this world and the next! As the old hymn says: “Trust and obey, For there’s no other way, To be happy in Jesus, But to trust and obey.” [John Henry Sammis]
The Bible recognizes no faith that does not lead to obedience, nor does it recognize any obedience that does not spring from faith. The two are at opposite sides of the same coin.[A.W. Tozer]
I began my prayer with, “Lord, you’ve got to…” but got no further. “God doesn’t ‘got to’ do anything!” said a still small voice and the Spirit’s point was well taken. By beginning with an impertinent demand like a selfish petulant child in a toy store, I showed chutzpah of the worst kind and began again.
The Israelites had been away from Israel for less than two months when they arrived at Rephidim. With no water to drink, the people complained, questioned whether the Lord was with them, criticized Moses, and then threatened him. Fearing for his life, Moses asked God what to do. Instructing him to strike a rock with his staff, God promised that water would come gushing out and, as promised, it did. The miracle was memorialized by the name given to this location, Massah (meaning testing) and Meribah (meaning quarreling.) Unfortunately, that was not the last time the Israelites tested the Lord and quarreled with Moses.
The book of Leviticus outlined several things that could make someone ceremonially or ritually unclean. These things included bodily discharges, touching a corpse, and skin infections, as well as contact with any unclean person or thing. By Jesus’ day, even entering a Gentile’s home made someone unclean. Anything and anyone an unclean person touched became unclean and, anyone who touched them or what they touched also became unclean.
In his letter to the Galatians, Paul refutes the message of those who preached that adherence to Jewish laws was required of all believers. His are harsh judgmental words from a man who never even walked with Jesus on earth. Why was Paul’s Gospel the definitive one rather than the one the Galatians heard preached by the Judaizers? For the first two chapters of his letter, Paul explains the source of his apostolic authority.
Of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament, thirteen are attributed to the Apostle Paul. We know he wrote another letter to the Corinthians and the prolific letter writer probably wrote letters to believers in places like Damascus, Caesarea, and Jerusalem, but these thirteen are all that remain. Considering Nero’s persecution of Christians, the violence during the Jewish revolt, and Domitian’s persecution of Jews and Christians, all of which happened before the end of the 1st century, it’s a wonder that any of Paul’s letters survived! God, however, saw to it that these thirteen ”God-breathed” epistles were preserved and became part of the Christian canon.
Devotions of the Heart 