Fishing lessons (3)

Lesson three: Cooperate with God’s plan for your life. “He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’ But Simon answered and said to Him, ‘Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.’ And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking” (vv. 4-6 NKJV). Jesus taught the disciples where to fish, when to fish, and how to fish. And He will teach you how to succeed in life too. But like Peter, sometimes your plan has to fail before you become willing to accept God’s plan. And if that’s what it takes, God will let you fail. Notice two things: (1) Peter didn’t argue with Jesus, he simply obeyed. As a professional fisherman, he may well have thought, “Lord, who are you to tell me how to fish?” He may even have thought if he didn’t catch anything at night when the fish were usually biting, he surely wasn’t going to catch anything in the middle of the day when the sun was glaring down on the water. But he didn’t argue; he just obeyed. You must too. (2) He didn’t listen to his feelings. No doubt he was dog-tired from working all night. But he didn’t ask, “What’s the use? Why should I keep on going?” Instead of being led by his feelings, he exercised faith in the promise of Christ—and the results were amazing. And if you’ll put your faith in Jesus today, He will do the same for you.