Because I said so

They have pulled their boats up on shore and all the fishermen are now busy cleaning up their nets and getting ready to go home. There is a crowd of people on the beach who want to listen to Jesus teach. Jesus being creative and accommodating walks over to Simon’s boat, climbs in, and asks, "hey can you push me out into the water a little?" Here are the fishermen thinking, "hey we are trying to get our stuff cleaned up so we can go home". It had been a long hard night of unsuccessful fishing, not a single fish was caught in their nets. So the fishermen go about cleaning up and when Jesus is finished speaking, He tells Simon to "go out in the deep water and put your in your nets." Simon responds by saying, "Master, we tried all night and were totally unsuccessful, but if you say so, I will put the nets down again." They go back out in the water and as soon as the nets were in the water they began to fill with fish. The nets were breaking so they call out for help from some friends and the fishermen find themselves in boats surrounded with fish. When Simon Peter saw this he falls before Jesus, "Lord away from me, I am a sinner." Everyone present was amazed at the amount of fish they had caught. Jesus looks to Simon and says, "Don’t be afraid; from now on you will catch men." They pull their boats up on shore, left all they had and followed Him. (Luke 5:1-11, emphasis and story style mine)

Have you ever felt so tired, worn out, disappointed that you just wanted to be done? Are you trying to do it all on your own?

You see there is a huge difference in effectiveness when Jesus is in the boat.

Is there something in your life that God is asking you to do? Are telling Him, "but I tried, I can’t, I am way too tired!"

May we acknowledge that we can’t save ourselves and that we need help. May we know that Jesus is the one that makes the difference and be willing to leave it all behind and pusue Him.