5 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.

Luke 5:1-11

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On the heels of failure, Peter interacted with Jesus. Second, Peter listened to Jesus and did what He told Him to do. The next step to recovering after a failure is to Let others help you. Part of Peter’s recovery from failure involved great success, but that success was too much for him to handle. 

They caught so many fish that their nets started to break. That sounds great, but he was on the verge of failure again.  He was on the verge of losing this miraculous catch due to broken nets.  I mean, if the fish aren’t biting, they aren’t biting, but if they are biting and you just lose them due to faulty equipment or a lack of skill or because you can’t think fast enough or whatever the reason, you are risking double failure on the same day.  Had Jesus just set Peter up to fail again?

People who recover well from failure are those who realize they need help from others, and they don’t wait for other people to notice their need.  They reach out. They are proactive. They take initiative.

Verse 7 says that Peter signaled to others in another boat to come and help.  He wasn’t going to be successful after his failure without the help of others. Part of recovery involves learning from our failures. Sometimes we fail because we try to do everything on our own.  Some of us need to learn to reach out the minute things start to feel overwhelming, but because of pride and fear of what others might think, we often keep dragging our nets as they tear further, creating gaping holes. As you seek to recover from failures, lean on the Lord, but also lean on those He has placed around you to help you get back on your feet!

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The final part of “Recovering From Failure” by Melissa Pratt is releasing on August 2nd. 

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