The journey of a thousand miles has to start with one step. The same can be said for our journey with Jesus. We know that the good work He started in us with salvation, which is our sanctification, He is faithful to complete (Philippians 1:6). That completion is revealed when all of our faith and worship belong to Him alone, but for now we find ourselves in a war for our worship and trust. You see, we don’t just wake up and find it natural to fully trust in Him and rely on Him for our every need. No matter how many times we read scriptures like “trust in the Lord with all your heart…” (Proverbs 3:5), it is still very difficult. Our natural response is to trust in our own efforts or abilities before we look to Jesus. This is traced all the way back to the Garden when Adam and Eve thought it best to disregard God’s instruction and oversight for their good and exchange it for their own wisdom, or lack there of. Now, we find ourselves in the same worship battle that is still raging. We are no different from Adam and Eve today. Scripture says that “none is righteous” and that “no one seeks for God” (Romans 3:10-11). Our flesh says to look to ourselves first when faced with challenging circumstances. Our knowledge, our abilities, and our strength are the first weapons we reach for and if these happen to fail, then we look to Jesus. Pair that mindset with Proverbs 3:5. It will be very difficult for Jesus to have all of our trust, all of our devotion, and ultimately all of our worship if He is nothing more than our back up plan. But here is the good news… “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” (2 Cor. 12:9) Our faith is completed and perfected by Jesus and not us! We are being sanctified in our victories and our failures and He WILL perfect the work He started in us. We just need to trust Him along the way.
As I was reading Luke 5 this week, the Lord reminded me of the importance in trusting Him with the seemingly insignificant moments that we face daily. The moments or tasks that we normally accomplish without even thinking. The moments that seem so mundane that we feel Jesus would not be interested. However, it is in the mundane that Jesus begins stretching our faith. In Luke 5, Jesus uses Simon’s (or Peter’s) boat as a portable pulpit to teach the crowds that were pressing in on Him to hear the word of God. Now keep in mind, Peter had just washed his nets after being out fishing all night and catching nothing (v.5). So Jesus teaches the crowd and when He finishes, He turns to Peter and says, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” Peter was a fisherman. In other words, this wasn’t his first rodeo. He had just spent all night fishing with nothing to show for it and I’m sure the last thing he wanted to do was to go back out and drop the nets. I am sure there was no expectation or hope in catching anything on his part. But, let’s look at his response. And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” Here is Peter trusting Jesus with the mundane everyday tasks of catching fish, a trade that Peter himself was an expert in. What happened next was an incredible faith building moment for Peter. They began catching fish… a lot of fish, so many that they had to get another boat to help them bring them to shore.
Jesus used something as simple as catching fish to build Peter’s faith. Jesus was showing Peter that he could be trusted. He was showing Peter that He ruled over everything, even the fish in the sea. Jesus was teaching him that even the most hopeless situation is not lost to Jesus. He was teaching Peter to see the impossible as nothing more than an opportunity for Jesus to make His glory known and reclaim the worship and trust He deserves. What started as Jesus building Peter’s trust to catch more fish ended with Peter walking on water and fearlessly establishing Jesus’ church in the midst of harsh persecution. What started with what seemed to be a pointless request to “try again” ended with a faith and a life that was founded on the Rock and was not shaken when trials came. Here is the beautiful part: Jesus knew what lay ahead for Peter and He knew exactly what Peter would need to stand firm in the midst of trial. Therefore, He prepared him and equipped him so he’d be ready when the trials came. He is doing the same with us. He is perfecting our faith and our worship daily. So, today it may be a request to let down the net while tomorrow it may be a command to walk upon the water. No detail is too small with which to trust Him.