Luke 5:1-11:  5 One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, 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.

Luke 5:1-11

Following a night of failed fishing attempts, Peter welcomed Jesus into His situation. He listened and obeyed the next steps Jesus gave him, and he signaled to others for help.

Failure humbled Peter. I think he felt so unworthy of that blessing that he had a hard time receiving it. Perhaps it was his first experience with the grace of God.  He hadn’t caught those fish.  He hadn’t earned the reward they would bring.  It was a gift that God gave to him.

The next step in recovering from failure requires that we learn to receive the blessings God wants to give us.  When you experience that favor of God it can be overwhelming.  God’s grace gives us a clean slate to move forward.  Big things were ahead for Peter, and his past didn’t matter. Anyone who has done great things for God first came to the place where they realized they weren’t worthy but by God’s grace they were going to take hold of the life Jesus wanted to offer.  Peter had a hard time in that moment, receiving what Jesus was doing and was about to do.

Jesus knew Peter was struggling.  He didn’t really even respond to Peter’s comment about asking Jesus to leave.  He said to Peter, “Don’t be afraid; from now on you will fish for people.”  Fish for people?  How did Peter process that?  He had just failed.  How could he be qualified to become a disciple of Jesus or a fisher of men?  After wrestling with feelings of unworthiness, he went for it.  He believed that if Jesus was calling, he could follow where He was leading.

Let Jesus define your future.  Too many people let their failures define their futures instead of Jesus.  

Your past may be an obstacle for you, but it isn’t a problem for Jesus.  This wasn’t the first and last time Peter would deal with failure.  One person identified 13 different times that Peter failed after he signed up to follow Jesus.  

Jesus called Peter to follow Him KNOWING that he would repeatedly fail him.  Jesus even told Peter in Luke 22:32 that he knew Peter would fail him. He told him that Satan was after him.  Jesus said he was praying for Peter that his faith wouldn’t fail, but then what He said next was interesting because even though he was praying Peter wouldn’t fail, that is absolutely what was going to happen, and Jesus knew it ahead of time. Jesus said, “And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” Luke 22:32 Peter would turn away from Jesus, and then he would return to Jesus.  He would recover.

God chose Peter, just as He has chosen us, knowing there will be moments of failure that will be part of our journey.  I believe He does so, in part, because He intends to use our failures, as well as our successes, for His glory. Let your recovery be a testimony to help someone else recover.

Failure is not the worst thing that can happen to a person. Allowing our failure to have the final say in our lives probably is.