This is the quote that Rick Renner put with this picture on Facebook:
“In Luke 5, after Jesus finished teaching, He looked at Simon and gave what must have seemed like a very unusual instruction: ‘Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught’ (Luke 5:4).
Peter was a professional fisherman. He knew these waters. He had spent the entire night fishing and had caught absolutely nothing. The nets had already been washed. The work was finished. Everything had been cleaned and put away.
Yet Jesus asked Peter to undo all of it.
I can almost hear Peter explaining why it wouldn't work. ‘Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing’ (Luke 5:5).
But then Peter said something that changed his life forever: ‘Nevertheless at Thy word...’ (Luke 5:5).
Peter chose to trust the Word of Jesus more than his own experience.
How often are we tempted to do just the opposite? We allow yesterday's disappointments to determine today's decisions.
My friend, never let a season of empty nets keep you from obeying the voice of Jesus. One word from Him can accomplish what an entire night of human effort never could.”
— Rick Renner
I love following Rick Renner's ministry. He's an amazing author, and I love how on point his teachings from the Bible are. Some might disagree with me on that, and that's okay. I've been studying God's Word since I was in my twenties, and the more I study and learn, the more I appreciate what Rick shares when he teaches from Scripture.
But it's the way he ended this particular thought that really grabbed me.
“Never let a season of empty nets keep you from obeying the voice of Jesus.”
Wow.
Just how often are we tempted to do the opposite?
How often do we allow yesterday's disappointments to determine today's decisions?
How many times do we think, “Well, that didn't work before, so why would I try again?”
We've all been there.
Peter certainly had reason to be discouraged. He wasn't some inexperienced fisherman who didn't know what he was doing. He was a professional. He had worked all night. He had done what he knew to do, and at the end of it all, his nets were empty.
And then Jesus told him to go back out.
I wonder how many times Peter's experience was telling him one thing while Jesus was telling him another.
His experience said, “We've already tried this.”
Jesus said, “Go back out.”
His experience said, “There's nothing out there.”
Jesus said, “Let down your nets.”
His experience said, “We've worked all night and caught nothing.”
Peter's response was, “Nevertheless at Thy word...”
That's the part that gets me.
Nevertheless.
Nevertheless means even though.
Even though I don't understand.
Even though I've tried before.
Even though I've been disappointed.
Even though the circumstances don't look promising.
Even though my experience tells me otherwise.
Nevertheless... at His word.
That's faith.
And I'll be honest—this is something we've had to remind ourselves of more than once.
For us and for our son, we've definitely been tempted to allow yesterday's disappointments to determine today's decisions.
But God.
Those two words can change everything.
We've had moments where circumstances have made us question what comes next. We've had disappointments. We've had things not go the way we hoped they would. We've watched doors close that we thought were going to stay open.
And sometimes the easiest thing to do is to let those experiences become the lens through which we look at the future.
“We tried that.”
“That didn't work.”
“We've been down that road before.”
“Maybe we shouldn't expect anything different this time.”
But God keeps reminding us that our past experiences are not His limitations.
What happened yesterday does not mean I know what God is going to do tomorrow.
And an empty net doesn't mean Jesus is finished.
Sometimes God asks us to go back out into the deep when everything inside of us is saying, “Why?”
Sometimes He asks us to try again.
Sometimes He asks us to wait.
Sometimes He changes the direction completely.
And sometimes He simply asks us to trust Him when we can't see what He's doing.
That's where we are learning to say:
“Nevertheless, at Your word.”
We know God has got Tim, Scot and me. Ultimately, He is in control.
Not us.
Not our circumstances.
Not our disappointments.
Not our plans.
Not even the things we think we understand.
God.
And if He tells us to launch out into the deep, then that's where we're going.
Even if we've been there before.
Even if we've come back with empty nets before.
Even if we're tired.
Even if we're afraid of being disappointed again.
Because the truth is, we don't need to understand the instruction to obey the One who gave it.
Peter didn't know what was waiting beneath the surface when Jesus told him to let down his nets.
He simply had to trust the One who knew.
And that's something I'm learning more and more as I get older:
Faith isn't trusting God only when the outcome makes sense to me. Faith is trusting Him when it doesn't.
I don't know what tomorrow holds for our family.
I don't know what God is going to do with every situation we're facing.
But I do know this:
He is faithful.
So I'm not going to let yesterday's empty nets convince me that there won't be a catch tomorrow.
I'm not going to let disappointment make my decisions for me.
I'm not going to let fear of what happened before keep me from what God may be asking me to do now.
Instead, I'm going to keep listening.
Keep trusting.
Keep believing.
Keep going into the deep when He says to go.
And when I don't understand?
Nevertheless, at His word.
Because one word from God can change everything❤️.
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways,” declares the LORD. — Isaiah 55:8
