During His ministry, Jesus performed more than 40 miracles including healing the sick, changing the natural elements of nature and even raising people from the dead. A miracle is considered an event that occurs outside the bounds of natural law. Each month, we will take a closer look at one of His miracles to understand the depth of His love for us.
Understanding the miracles of Jesus can change your life, and it all begins with believing through faith.
The Bible describes more than one miracle of Jesus involving fishing. In Luke 5:1-11, Jesus is sitting in a boat, talking to people on the shore of the Sea of Galilee. Afterward, he instructs Peter (also known as Simon) to take the boat further into the lake.
Jesus said, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the net.”
The net went into the water and immediately they caught such a large number of fish that the net began to break. They summoned another boat to come and help them, and both boats were so full of fish that they began to sink.
When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!”
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”
Working for long hours trying to catch fish yet without results was exhausting and discouraging for the fishermen. Peter tells Jesus that they had fished all day with no results, but reluctantly obeys Jesus’ command to try again. Jesus commands Peter to let down his ‘nets’ (plural), yet Peter replies with ‘net’ (singular). Peter’s reluctant obedience is half-hearted. It’s obvious that Peter probably thinks the result would be the same as his earlier lack of fish. His unbelieving thoughts show in his unenthusiastic obedience. At this early stage, Peter is still learning about the power of God.
What can we learn through this miracle? When Christ speaks, we should listen and obey His commands. In this case, this miracle affected the work and livelihood of the obedient fishermen. God wants us to be successful in everything we do. He always has our best interest.
Had Peter failed to obey Christ’s command, he would have been unable to experience both the miracle and the blessing. When we serve, obey and sacrifice, God will reward our efforts with abundant blessings, sometimes even more than what we can imagine. Our nets and our hearts will be overflowing.
