Shallow Faith

And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret, And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets. And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon's, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship. Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake. And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.    Luke 5:1-8

     
     I love where Simon here basically says to Jesus, we have been fishing all night and have caught nothing, but I will go out further because you told me to. Simon doesn't question Jesus' authority - he recognizes that when God speaks it's our job to listen. To do anything else is foolishness. Simon relies on God's word. He knew that because God said it, he should obey it. He didn't doubt Jesus' words to him. God lets us know what He wants us to do through His word, through godly preaching, and through spiritually-minded authority figures. We need to be sensitive to the words of Jesus and we need to immediately obey His calling. 

     Fishing was the livelihoods of these men - they fished so they could eat and provide for their families. When Jesus asked them to go deeper, they were probably pretty discouraged. Simon tells Jesus that they have been toiling (defined as working extremely hard or with difficulty), and saw no return. Nevertheless, they were ready to obey immediately at His command. Simon didn't wait for assurance that everything was going to work out. He didn't wait for Jesus to promise him an abundance of fish or affirm that everything would be okay. He didn't wait for assurance before He launched out into the deep - he went head first with faith that God had everything under control.

     When we refuse to go out deeper, we are showing that we have shallow faith. We don't trust that God will take care of our needs and provide for us. We might think that the work we're doing now is pointless, so why push even more? Why keep reaching out to that person who shoots us down? Why keep being kind to ungrateful people? Why keep witnessing when it seems to never yield any fruit? Why continue serving when I never get recognized? Simon had been fishing all night and caught absolutely nothing, but that's because God needed him to be willing to have a deep faith, not one that lingered in the shallow waters.

     We cannot quit working where God has us just because we don't see results. We promise in ourselves certain successes and we think that if we don't achieve them, then all hope is lost. God has plans for us far different from the plans we've made for ourselves. We don't get to choose what ministries to give up on or what work to stop doing just because we're not getting what we think we deserve. We obey where we are called and leave the results up to God.

     There's no blueprint for life. Simon couldn't see what the end result of his obedience was going to be - he was asked to obey in the moment, and he chose to obey. This should be the desire of each one of us - to follow God moment by moment, day by day, no matter what. God knows our doubts and uncertainties, He recognizes the work we put in, even when it all feels hopeless. He can use our lives for good even when it seems like we will never catch any fish. 

Dare to trust God with everything you have. Dare to leave the safety of the shallow water. Dare to dive in to the deep waters. Dare to have a faith that goes beyond the shallow concerns of this world. God has never failed, and the good news is, He's not about to start now. 

     
Stay excellent!