The Power of Faith

Every now and then there comes a time in our life when God calls us to reach out of our comfort zone and trust that He knows our abilities and has our best interest in His mind. At those moments, it doesn’t do us any benefit to look back at our failures but ahead to God’s glory and promise for a blessed future. Too often our fears and lack of confidence take control and we refuse to trust that God indeed knows what He is doing.

When Jesus commanded some fishermen to “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch,” (Luke 5.4) He knew what was about to take place. At that moment these average fishermen had a choice to make. Trust the Master or dwell on the past. One of them stood up and said, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” (Luke 5.5) He was willing to trust in the power of his faith in the master.

If the fishermen remained in the past they would never have been able to realize the blessings of God. If they had remained in the past they would never have witnessed the power of faith. If they had remained in the past, they would have remained mere fishermen. But thankfully they didn’t remain in the past. Thankfully they didn’t dwell on the lack of fish in their nets from the night before since it wasn’t the only time they had gone fishing. They had many successful nights in the past. Thankfully they put their trust in God’s wisdom and launched out into the deep.

The deep water of life can be a frightening experience. Without the safety of known and shallow water our comfort zone can be shattered. Without the comfort of familiar surroundings fear tends to cloud our judgment and decision-making abilities, and we rarely make sound choices based upon fear. Fear limits our talents and we remain standing still rather than moving ahead in life. But the fishermen knew their abilities to navigate the sea, and refused to allow fear to control them.

Because the fishermen were able to trust in God’s Wisdom, they caught a huge number of fish, so many their nets were about to break and their boats were about to sink under the heave weight of the catch. Then God said, "Do not be afraid. From now on you will catch men." (Luke 5.10) and they dropped everything. From that moment they trusted in God’s Wisdom to guide them.