Luke 5:4

“Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4.

Let me share this devotional thought I learned from a pastors meeting this week. The story is found in Luke 5. It’s the story where Jesus calls the fishermen to be His followers. When Jesus spotted two boats by the lake, He got into one of them. Jesus simply sat down and started speaking to the multitudes waiting at the beach. When Jesus was done speaking, He said, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

Simon replied and told Jesus that they had been working all night long and that they couldn’t catch a single fish. But Simon eventually said, “Nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” You know the rest of the story. They caught so much fish that their boat almost sunk. Simon came to his knees at the feet of Jesus. Luke 5:11 says, “they forsook all and followed Him.”

What does this tell us? These men were pros at what they were doing. They knew what needed to do and followed their work by the book. Yet they had no results. It was only when they surrendered to the voice of Jesus that brought them abundance.

We may be making a similar mistake in ministry. We do our best. We do everything we can by the book. But the most important thing to remember is that we need to listen to Jesus. Our skills and techniques mean nothing. There is nothing we can do on our own. We need to depend on Jesus and listen to Him.