When God Tells You Something That Makes No Sense

By: Jenifer Metzger

As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear

God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret.

He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the

fishermen had left them and were washing their

nets. He got into one of the boats, which belonged

to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the

land. Then He sat down and was teaching the

crowds from the boat. When He had finished

speaking, He said to Simon, “Put out into deep

water and let down your nets for a catch.”
Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all
night long and caught nothing. But
if You say so, I’ll let down the nets.”

Luke 5:1-5 CSB

In Luke, we see Simon Peter and other fishermen who had been fishing all night, yet, they hadn't caught anything. While I am not into fishing, my husband and sons are and I know that fishing all night without a catch is disappointing. Especially when it is your means of support, as it likely was for these men.

When Jesus told Simon to let down his nets, Simon said, "We've worked hard all night long and caught nothing." For most, that would have been the end of it. We've fished all night with nothing, we are done. There is nothing here. But for Simon, it was different. Simon continued on by saying, "But if You say so, I'll let down the nets." Simon obeyed Jesus even though it made no sense to him.

When they did this, they caught a great number

of fish, and their nets began to tear. So they

signaled to their partners in the other boat to

come and help them; they came and filled both

boats so full that they began to sink.

Luke 5: 6-7 CSB

Luke tells us that Simon's obedience resulted in not only a catch, but a catch so great the nets began to tear and the boat began to sink. One small act of obedience -even when it made no sense- resulted in a great blessing.

Sometimes God tells us to do something that makes no sense to us. But it doesn't have to make sense to us. We are not called to understand, we are called to obey.

God may tell you to give your last twenty dollars to a single mom. It makes no sense to you because it's the last bit of cash you have until pay day, but the mom has no money and needs to provide food for her children. God may tell you to take a different route home from work. It makes no sense to you because you always take the same way, it's easy and quick, but God knows if you take the normal route you will have an accident. God may tell you to pay for the car behind you in the drive thru. It makes no sense to you because you don't even know how much their order is and what if you don't have enough, but God knows that person is having a horrible day and needs to see kindness from someone. God's ways may not make sense, but we are called to obey anyway.

Friend, obedience is important. Obedience can bring blessing, it can bring peace, it can save a life. It doesn't matter if it makes sense, just trust and obey.

Discussion:
1. Think of a time God asked something of you that didn't make sense.
2. Is blind trust hard for you?