BECAUSE YOU SAY SO

Thanksgiving is now behind us, and most of us are already thinking about going on a diet…soon. A lot of us had friends or family all sitting around the table, and I am sure big tales were being told and lots of laughter. And, if you are anything like our family, it wouldn’t be a holiday without at least one or two arguments over silly things.

Arguments are a good thing, as long as each side respects the others point of view. The hardest part of an argument is listening to what the other person has to say and taking into account their reasoning. I remember as a small child, trying to argue with my mom when she wanted me to do something. Most of the time, her arguments were directed toward me cleaning my room, making my bed, or having a curfew for what time I need to come home at night. Being a child, I would want to know “why” I had to do it HER way and then I would hear those dreaded words that every child hates, “because I said so.”

Saturday morning I decided to let my Bible fall open to see if the Lord would show me a passage that I need to study. I am not sure that the Lord directed, me or if gravity led me to Luke 5, but that is where my Bible opened. I started reading the account of Jesus teaching the people and asking Simon to take Him off the shoreline to finish His sermon. When Jesus had finished speaking, He told Simon to go out to the deep waters and let down the nets for a catch. Simon had been fishing all night long, and he had been cleaning the nets when Jesus walked up. Simon had lots of arguments that he could have given, but instead, he said, “But, because YOU say so, I will let down the nets.”

Simon caught such a large number of fish that his nets started to tear and he had to call for help to get all of the fish into the boat. The weight of the fish was so much that the boats even started to sink. Simon fell to his knees and called out for the Lord to leave him. Simon said that he was a sinful man, but the Lord saw differently. The Lord told Simon not to be afraid and that from then on he would be fishers of men.

I was struck by the “because you said so” statement from Simon. I think so many of us don’t want someone telling us what to do and we have a hard time obeying without an argument. Is the Lord telling you to do something and instead you are arguing with him?

Because You say so, Lord, I will relinquish control. Because You say so, Lord, I will trust in You. Because  You say so, Lord, I will follow You. Because You say so, Lord……..

Have a Blessed Day!