Has God provided for you?

 “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…” – Luke 5:8-9 

In the miracle recounted in Luke 5:1-11, large crowds were pressing in to hear Jesus preach. To get the Word of God to everyone, Jesus climbed into one of the boats on the shore of the Lake of Gennesaret, also known as the Sea of Galilee. By preaching over the water, Jesus’ voice would have been naturally amplified, thereby allowing more people to hear Him preach.  

After preaching, Jesus instructed Simon/Peter, a professional fisherman by trade, to put his nets out. Peter is not happy about Jesus’ request, likely for two reasons. One, Peter had been up the entire night fishing, caught no fish, and had just parked his boats and pulled in his nets, likely to go home and get some sleep. It would require incredibly strong men to pull the nets up over and over all night from a depth of 100 feet, and the result was total exhaustion. Two, Peter was a fisherman, and he likely wondered why Jesus, who was a carpenter, would be telling him how to fish. Nonetheless, Peter does as he’s instructed, and so many fish were caught that their nets were breaking.  

Humbled, Peter fell down before Jesus, repenting of his sinful unbelief. Peter becomes the first disciple of Jesus Christ and leaves his fishing business to become an evangelistic apostle fishing for lost people. He brought with him two brothers who worked with him, James and John.  

In this scene, we see the two proverbial hands of God at work together. God’s unseen hand is His sovereignty. Here, Jesus and a large crowd end up at the very place where Peter and his fishing crew were finishing their work, and they use his boat. God had sovereignly chosen Peter to be Jesus’ first disciple, eventually the leader of the disciples, and write two books of the Bible. Peter had no idea what God was planning when he went to work the night before. We also see God’s seen hand of miracles. Jesus generously provides more fish than the nets and boats can seemingly handle.  

How have you specifically seen God show up to provide for you in your life?  What aspect of nature makes you stand in awe of God’s miraculous power?

From Realfaith.com