Obedience in Doubt

Luke 5:1-11 NIV

Jesus Calls His First Disciples

1 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret,[a] the people were crowding around him and listening to the word of God. 2 He saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”
5 Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.”
6 When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. 7 So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” 9 For he and all his companions were astonished at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, Simon’s partners.
Then Jesus said to Simon, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.” 11 So they pulled their boats up on shore, left everything and followed him.

In this story, Simon has just known Jesus for not too long and doesn’t know He is the Son of God yet. Jesus has probably yet to call Simon to become His disciple. He needed to share the good news to the people and of all the boats, he chose Simon’s boat. After His teaching, He decided to do a miracle to call Simon to be his disciple.
1)Jesus asked Simon to cast his net – Simon was doubtful. In our time, imagine, it is like a pastor telling a CEO of a public listed company how to do business.
It is like a student telling the teacher how to teach
It is like a football fan telling the footballer how to play ball
Or imagine it is like me telling Ps Calvin the methods of counseling
Or any of our pastors teaching Dr Richard how to treat his patients

Naturally, Simon was doubtful.

2)But he OBEYED Anyways. Peter’s obedience showed me that If I obey even while in doubt, God still blesses.
3)In Obedience, Simon saw the harvest of the fish, so much that it nearly sunk the boat. In seeing the fruit of his obedience, he felt ashamed of his doubts and he realized his sins.
4)Just like Simon, sometimes God calls us to do something that we find illogical and there’s no way it will work out. However, if we obey anyways, we will see the result and the blessing. We don’t have to wait until we are 100% sure of the result of obeying his call before doing something. This is called faith.
5)How to apply in our daily lives. I) When God calls us to give beyond what we have
II) In giving, sometimes God ask us to give when we are tight financially. We may not know how He is going to bless us at all, but give anyways and nearly always He will bless us back double or more
III) When God calls us into fulltime ministry, to a leadership position, to share Christ with someone, to leave your home for somewhere else. Etc. Even when in doubt and when we can’t see the future, if we do it anyways, and obey by faith, His blessings will be beyond what we thought possible.
6)God did not bless Simon with some fish or enough fish; he blessed him beyond what even two boats can’t contain. Sometimes the blessing became not the main objective, in Simon’s case, they just left everything and followed Jesus. Following Jesus and His call is more important than what He can give us.
Secondly, God did not choose disciples with great abilities, he in fact chose people from weird diverse backgrounds, fishermen, tax collectors, none of which are professional theologians or even pastors 
God cannot use people who think they are great and can do great things for God, he chose people that know they are sinners, like Simon who fell on his knees when he realized his is a sinful man that he even asked Jesus to go away from him.
He attracts those who know they need God. If we have such a genuine encounter with God, we most probably will also fall on our knees to ask for forgiveness. But such encounter with God’s power is no reason to draw back from him, but an opportunity to approach him on the right basis, in faith and dependence.

I leave you with this quote:
Corrie Ten Boom quotes (Dutch Evangelist , 1892-1983)

“It is not my ability, but my response to God’s ability, that counts.”

“Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.”