Getting in Deep - One Year Devotions for Women

When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper and let down your nets, and you will catch many fish.” - Luke 5:4

Jesus had already called the disciples to himself. At this point in the Gospel story, they were working with Jesus in their spare time while trying to keep up with their fishing business. Then one day, Jesus used Peter’s boat as a pulpit and “sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there” (Luke 5:3).

I wonder what the sermon was? Maybe it was about forsaking everything and following him.

After the sermon, the Lord told Peter to launch out into the deep. Peter did what he was told, even though he was somewhat skeptical. After all, as he told the master, “We worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing” (Luke 5:5).

But because Jesus, the maker of fishes, told them where to fish, they caught many. More importantly, Jesus caught a lot of committed men! Simon Peter was astonished, afraid, and ashamed of his confusion. All who were with him, including James and John, felt the same way. “And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus” (Luke 5:11).

There comes a time when you have to launch out into the deep. Some of us paddle around the shallows all our lives. It’s time we took a risk and began to do what Jesus tells us to do. Once we are out of our depth, we will be astonished too. We will want to forsake all—even our boats, our beloved ones, and our most familiar things—and follow him to the ends of the earth.

For Further Study: Luke 5:1-11

Excerpted from The One Year Devotions for Women, Copyright ©2000 by Jill Briscoe. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers. All rights reserved.

For more from Jill Briscoe, please visit TellingtheTruth.org.

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