Put Out Into the Deep

“Put out into deep water and lower your nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4

When Jesus instructed Peter to do this, Simon Peter was very tired and despondent from fishing all night without catching anything. But what was Peter’s reaction? He answered, “Master, we have worked hard all night and have caught nothing, but at Your command I will lower the nets.” He did not make excuses, or get irritated that this man who was not a fisherman was giving him, Simon Peter, a seasoned fisherman, advice! He just obeyed.

Like Simon Peter, we need to know who Jesus is in order to trust Him. When times are difficult, and we face challenges we have never encountered before, there is Someone to go to, to talk to, to listen to. We are never alone. That is His promise to us. “It is the Lord who goes before you. He will be with you; he will not leave you or forsake you. Do not fear or be dismayed.” (Dt.31:8) 

These may be times that try men’s souls, as the philosopher Thomas Paine wrote in 1776. We read in the headlines that 45.5% of our labor force is jobless. That is equivalent to 27.3 million Filipinos. Sadly, because of this pandemic, and all its connected problems, more people feel hopeless and depressed. Usually we Filipinos are happy and resilient, but with the stress of this current situation, the number of people taking their own lives has increased alarmingly. This prompted the government to call on the Catholic Church and other religious groups to provide guidance and counseling to citizens suffering from anxiety and depression.

“I call on our respected religious leaders to please shepherd your flock. We are in a very difficult situation. The pandemic is a problem that cannot be resolved only by science or any government. We need faith and spiritual nourishment, too,” Menardo Guevarra, a member of the country’s Inter-Agency Task Force for the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF), said. 

Ron Lambros wrote in his book, “God does not want our faith kept in mothballs, so He sometimes allows trials and testing to come into our lives; the unexpected hardships and heartbreaks that rock us in places we never thought we'd face as a child of God. And it's in those defining moments that we knock off the cobwebs of our everyday faith and face life with a new and improved one that's empowered by God Himself.” 

We must always remember that challenges and trials are not a detour in our life, it is part of our journey. As Richard Paul Evans said, “ Mountains can crush or raise you, depending on which side of the mountain you choose to stand on. All history bears out that the great, those who have changed the world, have all suffered great challenges. And, more times than not it's precisely those challenges that, in God's time, lead to triumph.”

Let us be prepared to put out into the deep water of these trials of today, knowing that with the Lord at our side, we will emerge stronger and victorious.