That's not how life works

The path God asks each of us to walk is different based on what we need to learn, not just about Him but about ourselves.

Aug 27, 2024

“Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” (Luke 5:5)

What happens when you do everything right?

It’s not a trick question. Honestly. In your experience with life, what happens when you do everything you’re supposed to do exactly the way you’re supposed to do it?

In a perfect world, you’d get a raise. You’d make the right connections to help your career take off. You’d be promoted to a better position at your job. You’d win awards and accolades. Is that what actually happens?

In my experience, no. It’s not. With life the way it is right now, the harder you work, the more work you get in return. The better an employee you are, the more unreasonable expectations get laid on your shoulders.

The corporate world and other jobs, honestly, reward mediocrity with stability and excellence with overwhelm. That’s my experience.

Not to be a downer, but life rarely works out the way we think it should. Life is heavy. It’s laden with loss and grief, and most of the time it feels like the people who get ahead the most are the ones who flip God off all the time, while those who are faithful to Him can hardly afford to buy bread.

So what’s the solution? In our minds, I’m sure many of us think that if we just do more, accomplish more, make more that we’ll be able to provide for our families and ourselves. To a certain extent that’s true. Being able to manage your time better and produce more will often result in a better life. But not always.

Some people work and work and work and never see the results of their labor the same way as other people. Why is that? Is God unjust? Is He unfair? Is He playing favorites?

No. This is probably the most important reason why it’s foolish to compare one Christian’s journey to another. The path God asks each of us to walk is different based on what we need to learn, not just about Him but about ourselves.

I love Simon Peter. He’s one of my favorite characters out of the Bible, and I can’t wait to get to have lunch with him someday in eternity.

Simon Peter knew how to fish. It was his livelihood. It was his heritage. He knew fish. He knew waters. He know boating. And I find it ironic how some of the biggest miracles Jesus did for Simon Peter were connected to those areas. Peter needed to learn that Jesus had ultimate authority over the parts of his life that he thought he’d mastered.

Today’s verse is taken from a larger passage (Luke 5:1-11) that is one of the more famous miracles in Scripture. Peter had worked all night, and he’d done everything he knew to do in order to catch some fish. And nothing had worked.

Then here comes this carpenter/stonemason—not a fisherman. The guy’s from Nazareth too, which everybody knew was the wrong side of the tracks. And this wise guy tells Peter, the master fisherman, to just throw his net down again and catch fish.

“That’s not how it works.” I can hear Peter saying it, even if he didn’t say it. Maybe he thought it. And he was right, because that isn’t how fishing works. But it is how Jesus works.

In a practical sense, the good work you do with your hands will usually always result in something good. That’s a natural law. You reap what you sow. But in our broken world, sometimes that’s not what happens.

Does that mean you work harder, placing your faith in your own abilities to earn your increase? I don’t recommend it. You can work your fingers to the bone with the best of intentions and still never see a benefit. Again, not to be negative, but that’s just how the world works.

Hear me: That’s not how Jesus works. Jesus knows our hearts. He sees our motives and intentions. And He is the one who brings increase. He is the one who decides when we rise.

Work hard, yes. But don’t make your work your god. Don’t rely on your work to solve all your problems. It won’t.

Trust Jesus. Let Him bring success to you when you are ready for it, and until then, trust Him to provide for you what you can’t provide for yourself.