The Blessing Made Him Aware

"And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking." (Luke 5:6)

And it worked. The nets came up so full they began to tear, and they signaled the other boat to come and help, and both boats were filled so full they began to sink. That is a good story, and we love telling it, and we tend to stop there, because that is where the blessing is. But look at what Peter does with the miracle. He does not celebrate. He does not laugh. He does not do the arithmetic on what the haul is worth at market. He falls at Jesus' knees and says, depart from me, Lord, for I am a sinful man. Get away from me.

Because the fish were never the point. The fish were the door. And when a man gets close enough to see who is standing in the boat with him, the first thing he feels is not gratitude. It is exposure. The nearness of that much holiness does not flatter a man; it undoes him.

The blessing did not make Peter confident. The blessing made him aware, and awareness is a harder gift, and it is the one Jesus was actually handing him. So do not measure God's nearness by how comfortable you feel. Sometimes the surest sign he has drawn close is that you suddenly see yourself clearly and want to hide. That is not rejection. That is the beginning of being known, and being known is the beginning of being changed.