Choosing To Trust And Obey

“Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught. And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net. And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net brake.” Luke 5:4-6

The above passage was part of our Sunday School lesson yesterday morning and as our teacher read and discussed the verses, the Lord gave me a simple thought:

When Christ instructed Simon Peter to let down the nets, his first response was human reasoning:

“Master, we have toiled all the night…”

As I thought about this yesterday morning, Proverbs 3:5 came to my mind:

“Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.”

When Simon said “we have toiled all the night”, in essence, he was saying, “Lord, we’ve been fishing all night and it hasn’t done any good. Why should I do it again?”

Simon was leaning on his own understanding.

How often are we guilty of leaning on our own understanding? Instead of immediately taking God at His Word and obeying, we try to analyze the situation. Instead of completely trusting God, we trust our human intellect – completely forgetting that God’s ways…His thoughts are so much higher than ours.

“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:9

Thank the Lord, Simon continued with, “nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net”. Yes, initially Simon was guilty of human reasoning but he didn’t continue down that path. Although Christ’s instructions didn’t make sense to him, Simon CHOSE to TRUST & OBEY the Lord. As a result, the Lord blessed Simon EXCEEDING, ABUNDANTLY, ABOVE!!  AMEN!!

Today, let’s be careful that we don’t allow leaning on our own understanding to rob us of God’s blessings. It’s ok to say, “Lord, I really don’t understand”. (We may as well admit it to God – He knows our thoughts anyway.) But, let’s be sure we don’t continue down that path of trying to figure out God’s ways. Today and every day, no matter what our human reasoning is telling us, let’s choose to TRUST & OBEY!

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When we walk with the Lord in the light of His Word,
What a glory He sheds on our way!
While we do His good will, He abides with us still,
And with all who will trust and obey.

Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.

(John H. Sammis)

“As for God, his way is perfect: the word of the LORD is tried: he is a buckler to all those that trust in him.” Psalm 18:30