Finding Hope in Luke 5:4-11

Have you ever cracked open your Bible in the early morning hours and done a glimpse over your intended readings for the day, and—if you’re being honest—question if what you were about to read was relevant to your current circumstances?

Sometimes what we read in the Bible has immediate application, and other times, it’s a seed planted for future fruit. In my case the other morning, I expected the latter and received the former… and I’d love to share a snippet of what the Lord spoke to my heart with you today.

Situationally, I was walking through some relational hardship. Scripturally, I was about to read a story about a group of fisherman making a big catch. I didn’t anticipate walking away with a hearty douse of encouragement and yet—by the power of the Holy Spirit—God used this exact story found in Luke 5:4-11 to breathe a fresh wind into my circumstances and send me into my day with hope-filled expectancy…

In this story, we see Jesus invite a group of men to let their nets down into waters that they have spent the night unsuccessfully fishing. Simon’s exact answer to the Lord’s request was: “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:5)

I love the combination we see here of authenticity and obedience. Simon doesn’t hide his experience with this exact situation from the Lord, and yet he faithfully follows the words of Jesus and proceeds to let his net down back into the waters that had left him previously disappointed.

As a result of this action, the fishermen in the story end up catching so many fish that their boats couldn’t handle the load; they needed to call in reinforcements!

When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. Luke 5:6-7 NIV

Please excuse this next statement—as I know it’s bit cheesy—but when I read this line from Scipture… it wasn’t just the boat that began breaking…

As I sat there on my living room couch, I felt my expectations of future disappointment begin to fall apart. Just because I had taken certain steps in the past (regarding my current difficult circumstances) didn’t mean that Jesus couldn’t produce new results.

The amazing thing? He didn’t even need to instruct me in some novel or new idea. Jesus has the power and ability to give us instructions for the very same actions we have done a million times before, and produce entirely new results.

I looked at what was before me with a fresh hope: I could trust Jesus. I could focus my energies—not on coming up with some new master plan to deal with my situation—but to simply lean into his voice and take the action steps he called me to take.

He is the one who is able to accomplish more than all we could ask or imagine—according to His power that is at work within us. We don’t need to do anything spectacular per se, but Jesus— because of who He is—can take our everyday steps of obedience and accomplish something incredible. (Ephesians 3:20)

All for His glory and for the sake of His Name.

Be encouraged today, friends!