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I've heard some version of this sentence more times than I can count:
“One day, when I'm ready...”
One day I'll serve.
One day I'll lead.
One day I'll start.
One day I'll do what I know God has been asking me to do.
We imagine there's some future version of ourselves who is going to have more faith, fewer questions, more confidence and a perfectly clear understanding of God's plan.
Then we'll say yes.
There's just one problem.
That person may never show up.
And I don't think God is waiting for him anyway.
Peter Was Done for the Day
Luke 5 introduces us to Peter after a terrible night of fishing.
He had worked all night.
He had caught nothing.
Now he's on shore washing his nets.
In other words:
Peter is done.
The shift is over.
The nets are being cleaned.
It's time to go home.
Then Jesus shows up.
There's a crowd around Him, so Jesus gets into Peter's boat and asks him to push away from shore a little.
I love that Jesus doesn't start by asking Peter to change the world.
He asks for his boat.
That's it.
The first yes was small.
Peter probably had no idea what that little yes was going to become.
And isn't that how God often works?
We want the whole plan.
God gives us the next step.
We want to know where this is going.
God says:
Give Me the boat.
Then Jesus Asks for More
After Jesus finishes teaching, He tells Peter:
“Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
Now Peter has a problem.
He just finished fishing.
All night.
And caught nothing.
So Peter says:
“Master, we've worked hard all night and haven't caught anything.”
I love that Peter tells Jesus what he thinks.
He doesn't pretend the instruction makes sense.
He doesn't suddenly forget how bad the previous night had been.
He essentially says:
Jesus, we tried this already.
And it didn't work.
But then Peter adds the words that change everything:
“But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
There it is.
That's the yes.
Peter didn't suddenly understand.
His circumstances hadn't changed.
The previous night was still a failure.
The nets were still empty.
The only thing that changed was who had spoken.
Obedience Doesn't Always Need Understanding
I think sometimes we make understanding a prerequisite for obedience.
God, explain it first.
Show me how it's going to work.
Tell me where this ends.
Then I'll go.
But Peter gives us another way.
Because You said so.
That's surrender.
Not: “I understand.”
Not: “This makes sense.”
Not even: “I think this is going to work.”
Just: Because You said so.
I've learned that some of the biggest moments of our lives begin with decisions that didn't look very big when we made them.
A conversation.
An invitation.
A move.
A ministry opportunity.
A decision to try again.
A yes.
And sometimes you don't understand what God was doing with that yes until years later.
Then the Nets Start Filling
Peter lets down the nets.
Suddenly there are so many fish that the nets begin to break.
They call another boat over.
Then both boats begin filling.
If the point of this story were prosperity, this would be the ending.
Peter obeyed.
Peter got rich.
Everybody goes home happy.
Except that's not what happens.
Peter looks at Jesus and falls to his knees.
Suddenly the fish don't matter.
And Jesus tells him:
“Don't be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”
Then Peter does something almost crazy.
He leaves the fish.
The thing he'd spent all night trying to get...
he finally gets.
And then walks away from it to follow Jesus.
Because the miracle wasn't really about fish.
It was about Jesus.
Sometimes God Gives You What You Wanted to Show You What You Actually Needed
That's one of the things I love most about this story.
Peter wanted fish.
Jesus wanted Peter.
And once Peter understood who was standing in his boat, the full nets suddenly weren't the biggest thing happening anymore.
I wonder how many times we come to God asking Him to fill our nets.
Give me the opportunity.
Give me the promotion.
Fix the situation.
Open the door.
Answer the prayer.
And God certainly cares about those things.
But what if He's doing something deeper?
What if He's not only trying to change what's in your boat?
What if He's trying to change who's steering it?
You Don't Have to Be Ready
Peter wasn't ready.
He proves that almost immediately.
The moment he sees what Jesus has done, he tells Jesus to get away from him because he's a sinful man.
That's not exactly the confidence of somebody who thinks:
Finally. God found the right guy.
Peter knew his weaknesses.
Jesus knew them too.
Jesus called him anyway.
That's good news for me.
Because if God only used people who felt ready, qualified and completely confident...
I'm not sure He'd have many volunteers.
I've spent much of my life around ministry and leadership, and one thing I've learned is that almost everyone you admire started before they felt ready.
At some point, somebody simply said yes.
Saying yes doesn't mean doing nothing.
Surrender doesn't mean sitting around waiting for God to do everything.
Peter still had to row.
Peter still had to pick up the nets he had just cleaned.
Peter still had to throw them back into the water.
And when the fish came, Peter still had to pull.
Faith isn't passive.
Sometimes obedience is hard work.
The difference is that you're no longer working only from what makes sense to you.
You're responding to what God has asked.
And I also don't want to turn this into a formula.
Saying yes to God does not guarantee overflowing nets.
Sometimes obedience leads to blessing.
Sometimes obedience leads to sacrifice.
Eventually Peter's yes would cost him much more than a morning of fishing.
But Jesus was worth following either way.
What's Your Boat?
That's the question I've been thinking about.
Not: What's your giant calling?
Not: What are you going to accomplish in twenty years?
Just: What's your boat?
What's the thing God has put in front of you right now?
Maybe it's small.
Maybe nobody else will ever know you said yes.
That's okay.
Peter couldn't have known that pushing a boat a few feet from shore was the beginning of his entire life changing.
Your next yes doesn't have to make sense to everybody.
It doesn't even have to make complete sense to you.
Sometimes all you have is:
“Because You say so.”
And sometimes that's enough.
God isn't waiting for the future version of you who finally has everything figured out.
He's asking the person you are right now:
Will you trust Me?
He doesn't need your perfection.
He doesn't need you to know the entire plan.
He doesn't even need you to feel ready.
Sometimes...
all He needs is your yes.
