When Simon Peter realized what had happened, he fell to his knees before Jesus and said, “Oh, Lord, please leave me—I’m such a sinful man.” For he was awestruck by the number of fish they had caught, as were the others with him. His partners, James and John, the sons of Zebedee, were also amazed. Jesus replied to Simon, “Don’t be afraid! From now on you’ll be fishing for people!” And as soon as they landed, they left everything and followed Jesus. Luke 5:8-11 (NLT)
Jesus had just performed a huge miracle. Peter and his crew had been fishing all night and caught nothing. Exhausted and wanting to go home, Jesus says “Let’s fish some more.” Peter reluctantly agrees and the haul of fish was more than he could imagine.
Peter realizes the magnitude of what had just happened. He understood the man he was standing in front of was no ordinary man and he understood the ramifications of this realization. The Bible says he was awestruck or “overwhelmed by awe” in the ESV version.
As that awe began to sink in and overtake his ability to comprehend, he drops to his knees and says “I am not worthy to experience this. Please leave.”
Don’t we do that? When we encounter Jesus and the magnitude of that experience hits our souls, we want to hide. We understand we are not worthy. We understand there is no way we can grasp this and we understand that this, this Jesus, is way bigger than we can handle.
As we are dropping to our knees in worship we are also saying with our words and deeds, I am afraid of this. It doesn’t fit in what I understand. Maybe I’m not your girl (guy.)
But Jesus says “Yes. You are. Don’t be afraid. Come with me on this adventure and I will show you things you are not going to believe. Stick with me and you will be fine.”
That’s what the disciples did. They dropped what they were doing and followed him.
How about you? The Bible is clear that we all have a call on our lives. What is keeping you from following yours? Are you afraid? It’s OK. That might be why the Bible says “Don’t be afraid.” so many times!