I have no doubt that the “Jonah & Sons” fishing company was one of, if not the premiere fishing enterprise on the Sea of Galilee.

Scripture makes it sound as if they had additional partners, at least they did until Jesus came by in Mark 1:16-18.

Several times in Scripture we are warned about trusting in our own abilities, or our own understanding. Solomon warned his son, three times in Proverbs about not putting your trust in yourself. (Proverbs 3:5-6; Proverbs 14:12; and Proverbs 16:25)

An observation I have made is that it is not a challenge for most of us to trust God for things we know little about or for things we have no abilities or prior experience in. But when it comes to things we have been “trained” in, or the things we have spent our lives doing, I have observed that often we jump in and rely upon our own devices rather than put our trust in God and follow His directives.

In first 8 verses of Luke 5, Peter, the fisherman, has a moment with Jesus, the Messiah, that was defining.

Peter had been fishing all night only to come up empty handed. After Jesus had completed his time of teaching from the boat, He tells Peter to cast out a little further from the shore and throw his nets in. Peter’s answer is a bit condescending to Jesus. He lets Jesus know they had already been fishing all night. After all, Peter was the professional fisherman, Jesus was a carpenter (stone mason). But, since you said so, here goes.

Read the results. Use your imagination about what happens when a fisherman listens to the Creator of the sea and the fish! The results speak for themselves.

Peter, the fisherman, the Apostle and follower of God learned a great lesson. It always pays to listen to what God says. (By the way, in the way of thinking of biblical times, listening and obeying were the same thing.)

As someone who has been around the block a couple of times, seen a lot, been privileged to do a lot, I am of the opinion I need to put my trust in the Creator now more than ever. I have no desire to simply repeat my experiences, even the good ones. This is a new day, a new time, we have never been this way before and God is wanting to do a new thing. So, we need to let go of the old. Listen to the words of the Creator.

I think Peter, the fisherman, the Apostle, and the follower of God would agree!

Always in Pursuit!

Don