If God Calls You, You Have to Take the Leap
Elisha sent a messenger to him, saying, Go and wash in the Jordan seven times, and your flesh shall come again to you, and you shall be clean. — 2 Kings 5:10
Simon answered him, "Master, we worked all night, and took nothing; but at your word I will let down the net." — Luke 5:5
Author
Dr. Roberto Miranda
Summary: Following Jesus Christ requires us to lay our doubts, fears, and human reasoning at His feet when His calling seems impossible. Like Peter, we can acknowledge the obstacles and still obey because we trust in the Word and the Lord’s faithful character. The Christian life is one of surrender and submission; it may even require us to relinquish dreams, security, and resources in order to serve Him. If we are certain that God has asked us to do something, we must take the step of faith and allow Him to handle what we cannot explain or resolve. By submitting our pride and intellect to the Lord, we can be His instruments, behold His glory, and also bless others.
Peter was willing to lay his doubts, his fears, and his human reasoning at Jesus’ feet and obey Him in something that seemed rationally impossible. Peter reacts with surprise when Jesus tells him to let down his nets for a catch. Peter says: If we have tried to fish all night under ideal conditions and have not been able to catch even a single fish, what You are asking me to do seems impossible. But if You say so in Your Word, I will let down the net.
It is important for us to understand this. If we truly want to have a deep relationship with Jesus Christ, to know Him in all His mystery and all His holiness, and to be used by Him, we have to set aside our human reasoning, our doubts, and our fears. If He calls us, we have to take the plunge.
The Christian life is a life of obedience, a life of submission, a life of surrendering our entire being, including, many times, the reservations we have and the reasoning that conflicts with the Lord’s absolute claims. The person who is guided merely by reason and allows doubts, the apparent contradictions in the Bible, and the contradictions and inconsistencies of the Church and the children of God, of pastors and servants of the Gospel, to hinder their relationship with God and their service to the Lord will never truly be used and blessed by God.
Many times, the Lord will want to use you in some way and will even ask you, as in my case, to surrender your professional and intellectual dreams to Him and to leave everything behind, just as they actually left their boat, in order to serve Him. And in those moments, perhaps you will think, Well, who is going to provide for my family? How am I going to support my family financially? I have no academic or ministerial training.
There will be many doubts and many fears, and many things will come to mind when the Lord issues you a call. There will be things that become obstacles, as Peter experienced when the Lord said to him: Hey, let down your nets now, when these do not seem to be the best conditions for fishing. It will be a moment of crisis in your life, in which you will have to decide whether you are going to allow doubts, fears, the negative circumstances around you, and the apparent obstacles to keep you from taking a step of faith and answering the call Christ issues you, or whether, like Peter, you will set aside your fears and doubts and say: Well, Lord, if that is what You are asking me to do, I will do it in Your Name, and I will let You take care of the consequences and of the things I cannot resolve or explain at this moment.
When Peter says, “Lord, at Your Word,” that is where the reason lies. The Lord commits Himself to us. If God commands you to do something and you are sure that God has asked it of you, do it and do not worry about anything else. The Lord is responsible for the things you cannot answer or resolve; His Word is faithful, His Word is trustworthy, and His character is absolutely faithful. So when Peter takes that step of faith, I imagine that something was broken within him, and he was then able to become an instrument and behold the Glory of God; likewise, until we take our pride and our intellect, place them in the Lord’s service, and obey Him simply out of obedience, we cannot behold the Glory of the Lord.
We have to do that, and then we see that when Peter did this, the Glory of God was manifested: he was able to have a great miraculous catch and to bless others in their lives as well. That can happen in your life if you submit your doubts and fears to the claims of the Lord Jesus Christ. This meditation is part of a series of five brief messages about the miraculous catch and the calling of the apostle Peter to ministry. In them, Dr. Miranda discusses practical aspects of Christian growth and service: