LUKE 5:1-11 – “On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him.”

THEME OF THE DAY: HE WON’T DEPART FROM US.  Today’s account of the Lord’s miracle of the abundant catch of fish is so encouraging on many fronts.  We marvel with the crowd of the quality of Christ’s teaching. We stand in awe of His power over the sea and fish.  We look with amazement at His patience with Peter.  There is something else we observe from Jesus in His interaction with Peter.

After the miracle of the huge catch of fish, Peter feels the deep conviction of his sin of unbelief and is overwhelmed by his sinfulness.  What does he do?  He gives the Lord a command – “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man.” And what is the response of Jesus?  First, He doesn’t obey Peter. Then, He redirects Peter.

Let’s dive a little deeper into this dialogue.  When the Lord reveals His glory by the miracle of the fish, Peter is confronted with his sinfulness.  It is always that way for human beings. The holiness of the Lord in the display of His power exposes us to our sinfulness. We feel unclean.  And what does Peter do? He tells the Lord to leave him for he is sinful.  But notice what he didn’t do. Peter didn’t depart from the Lord.  Yes, he is confronted with his sin, but he also loved Jesus and he really didn’t want to be away from the Lord.  Here is the paradox in the Christian life. We want to be in the Lord’s Presence, but there is terror within us because of His holiness and our unholiness.  We want to stay and we want to flee!  And what happens next is so encouraging . . .

The Lord didn’t leave Peter.  He didn’t obey his command. Instead, He had Peter take his eyes off himself and calmed his fears by directing him to the mission He had for him to do.  What a gracious Lord!   Our sinfulness doesn’t drive Jesus away. It qualifies us to come to Him, and the Lord will never abandon us. He has a mission for us too, and in the humbling of ourselves by His holiness, we are equipped for that mission. Just like Peter.

PRAYER: Lord, I praise You for never giving up on me, of never abandoning me, even in my times of failing.

REFLECTION:  Our sinfulness does not drive us from Christ. It qualifies us to come to Christ.