After using Peter’s boat as a floating pulpit, Jesus took advantage of the intimate setting to hook his first disciples. Knowing the task he would set before Simon Peter and the others as they followed him and entered into his ministry, the Lord needed to demonstrate his knowledge, power, and provision in catching fish before he could ask them to catch men. Jesus often shows us that he can provide for our physical needs to demonstrate that he can also provide for our spiritual needs.
As is often the case with the miracles of Jesus, the circumstances surrounding the event paint a bleak, if not impossible, picture. For starters, Jesus, a carpenter, attempted to tell Peter, a seasoned fisherman, how to fish. Then we learn the night before had proved unfruitful in fishing, though they worked themselves to the bone. As if that were not enough, Jesus asked them to lower their nets during the day, a time when fishing usually yielded much smaller catches. Peter, though probably skeptical, responded kindly to Jesus by calling him master and following his orders. Peter dropped the larger nets used for night fishing and waited to see what would happen next. The deck was stacked against them: inexperienced teacher, bad luck, wrong time of day. If only we had a snapshot of Peter’s face as the nets filled and filled! Through Jesus’s presence and instruction, provision overflowed.
Once the two boats teemed and sank with the miraculous catch, Peter realized Jesus exercised power beyond that of a normal man. Though he started by calling Him Master (επιστατα—epistata) a term meant to signify a high social standing, Peter now rightly called Jesus Lord κυριε—kurie), a term that recognized Jesus’ authority and God working through Him. Peter, in the presence of the Lord, felt the weight of his own sinfulness and out of fear asked Jesus to depart so that he might not face judgment or other dangers. At this point Peter learned his second lesson from Jesus: he had not come to condemn but to invite. Although Jesus’s power and provision could lead to immediate judgment for sinners, he came to call Peter and the others to leave the life of fishermen and enter into the life of fishers of men.
Using the miraculous catch of fish as part of His résumé, Jesus communicated through word and deed that in the same way He taught them in this catch, he would most certainly teach them in spiritual matters as his disciples. After all, catching people is like catching fish: it requires Christ’s provision and presence. The miracle ended with Jesus’s calming words to Peter and his invitation to follow him in a life of discipleship and evangelism. Jesus extends that same invitation from the Sea of Galilee two thousand years ago to us today. Will you, like Peter, recognize that Jesus is so much more than a master? Rather, he is the risen Lord and worthy to be followed.
I have seen how God has provided for me throughout my life, my husband, even when jobs I’ve been up and down. And even now through this pandemic just how he is sustaining us. It’s amazing how even the details of your life if you ask him into help, he does!
By being a constant there no matter what loving unconditionally. To remind others that he is always there to go to him for guidance above all else.
Over and over abundance in my life. Undescribable. That’s why it’s easy for me to share the gospel.
Always being on my side, No matter where we had to move to.
God is providing for me way beyond my wildest dreams. I don’t have everything I want. However, I have everything I need and much of what I want. I have my health, my family, my home my job among other things. As God provides for me it gives me the freedom to share the gospel with others in different ways.
Years ago I went through a divorce. I was scared to death to be out on my own. I had to get a new job and move to another town. God was with me. He provided: a job (very difficult but rewarding), a home whose built in radio was set to my Christian radio station and my neighbor was a Christian who became my best friend, when spring came, God gave me beautiful flowers (perennials) in my yard, twice I was encouraged to sign up for drawings and from those drawings, God gave me a ring and a recliner. My church that God led me to was a place where I found healing, friends and a place to grow in my faith. Is that not amazing in how God provided abundantly!!! I recently was able to share some of these remarkable things to another woman going through a divorce. She has started noticing how God is her "husband", too, during this difficult time.
Many years ago, my husband was attending Calvary Chapel Bible college. We had sold our home and packed ourselves and our two small sons and moved to California for my husband to attend this school. It was near the end of the school term and we were running out of money. I was complaining to my husband that we didn’t have enough money to buy diapers. He kept assuring me that God would provide for us. In a fit of anger and frustration, I grabbed up my wallet to go to the store and get what I could, when I opened my wallet, $100.00 fell out! I fell down in tears of gratitude and shame. While I was acting like a naughty child throwing a temper tantrum, Jesus had already provided. That was 40 years ago, and I have always remembered how God had provided for us what we needed when we needed it.
There is always something, sometimes large and sometimes very small, in each of my days that shows God’s abundance in my life. Some days it is a glimpse of an animal siting during one of my walks or blooms on a tree that fills my heart with an overwhelming uplifting that makes me know it is God sharing his amazing creations with me and other days it is a story from someone in our small group that brings tears to my eyes. In some cases those stories shared are not happy ones, but they are stories that help alleviate fear, anxiety or stress from someone else that keeps us all knowing that we are not alone and that someone else’s pain shared alleviates our own pain and suffering. Being here for each other is one of God’s callings on our life and that can be fulfilling to serve His purpose through us. So hard to put into words. God’s abundance is everywhere, all we have to do is look for it. Thank you Jesus.
Your words touched my heart because they expressed my own experience. His presence is everywhere and when I forget, He gets my attention with a sunrise, a squirrel stopping to stare at me, or a friend sharing just the right words I need to hear. His abundant and merciful love is always with us- in the chaos of life, he calms the storm, or walks through the storm right next to us.
When Vernon and I first got married he was laid off 2 weeks after our wedding from TI here in Lubbock. I was working at Methodist Hospital. Vernon was going everywhere to find a job, even to the Dallas area. He went to a an organization that finds jobs for you. We had paid for most of our wedding so we had no money to spare. He got a job with TCA cable and we had to move to Big Spring. We both knelt to pray together for God to help us financially to move. We went and checked our mailbox and there was a check. That was over 45 years ago and I still remember God’s provision.
I see God’s provision in my life during my sister’s lung & heart disease & Pat later received a double lung transplant & heart repair. This was a true miracle from God since the doctors didn’t think Pat would survive another month. Almost 11 years later, her lungs went into rejection & she continued to get worse & passed away in our home at the age of 55. It was the most difficult season in my life, but God carried me through this awful time. I had quit my job to take care of her but it was such a huge blessing in my life! I can share this story with others that are grieving & let them know how God brought me through this & that I never lost my faith. God was with me through Pat’s illness & her death.