When the Lord Jesus speaks, let us listen with a teachable heart. He speaks the word of truth. He teaches men how to behave in a godly manner. He stood by the Lake of Gennesaret to preach the word of God to those who wished to hear Him spill words of wisdom (Lk 5:1). Let us deepen our understanding of Him, learning and practicing the things that our Lord instils in us.

God is silently loving you

The Lord Jesus approached Simon silently and entered his boat to be with him (Lk 5:2-3). The Lord Jesus is also silently beside you, loving you, calling you to come and follow Him.

The Lord Jesus sat beside Simon to teach the multitudes for a while before instructing him. Why? One plausible reason is because He also wanted to encourage Simon to have the faith when His word comes to him. We can see how Simon called Him “Master” and actually had the faith to heed His words later on in Lk 5:5. The way that the Lord had spoken to Simon was clear and direct. His instructions must be clearly heard and executed with faith. That is how you receive His blessings (Lk 5:7, 9). It is also wonderful to know that the Lord knows when you are in trouble, unable to find the help that you need. Thus, He is here, to be that help. 

Perhaps we have been like Simon Peter. Once we see the wondrous works of the Lord, we become afraid to draw closer because we know how lousy we are (Lk 5:8). But the Lord gives us comfort, He said the equivalent of, ‘Do not be afraid, God will willingly use you as His servant’ in Lk 5:10.

He prayed. Let us go and pray, too.

When people realise the miracles that Jesus can do, they all swamped around Him to ask for healing (Lk 5:15). He was tired. So, He commits Himself in prayer to gain spiritual rest, strength and comfort from the Father in heaven - this is what we must do as well. Prayer is powerful and absolutely necessary - start loving to pray.

Faith is the victory

Jesus sees your faith when you do everything you can to draw closer to Him. That's also why faith is accompanied with works. By works, faith is made perfect! (James 2:22) That’s also why you are able to see someone’s faith through the fruits that they bear (Mt 7:17, 20). It is because your faith compels you to draw closer to the God of all comfort. When the Lord Jesus said that the paralytic man’s sins were forgiven, immediately he was healed (Lk 5:20, 25). This meant that this man was suffering for the glory of the Lord (Lk 5:25). Notice how the paralytic man did not waver in faith when he heard the Pharisees blabbering against Jesus in Lk 5:21-24. That moment of pause before his healing demonstrated his faith in that he firmly believed that Jesus was the Son of Man who had power to forgive and heal on earth! 

Imagine yourself suffering for a good 30 years of life. At year 30, do you think you still have the pure faith that the Lord will heal you? Or would you have already quietly withdrawn from Him, indulging in self-pitying that you would never ever be healed because “this is just how my life is”? 

Don’t give up yet! Faith is the complete trust in the Lord, fully embracing and submerging in the fact that He is good and willingly gives life to the sick! (Lk 5:31) Not only those who are physically ill like the paralytic man, but also the tax-collectors, ie. those living in guilt and shame. Therefore, take heart, do everything you can to draw closer to Him and sin no more, because He loves repentance. 

Time for the right things

The Pharisees asked Jesus an unfair and rude question. So Jesus replied with logical reasoning that would make them keep silent. When they asked why John's disciples keep themselves holy with fasting and prayers while His disciples only eat and drink, they wanted to make Jesus feel a sense of shame for His own disciples who seemingly did not care about their own spiritual nurture (Lk 5:33). But in the eyes of God, there is a time for everything. What we must do, is appropriate things at appropriate times (Lk 5:36-38). Just because they remain in fasting and prayer does not make them better than those who put aside fasting and prayer at the right time to celebrate the joyful moments of their loved ones (Lk 5:34-35). Doing the right things at the right time pleases God more than the ones who put on a show with an intention to let others see that they are godly. Those would be considered men-pleasers and not God-pleasers. 

When we view our faith, let us reflect on the works of the Lord who is full of goodness and graciousness. This would really aid us in growing spiritually. Those who know Him intimately, persevere in faith! For those who are still learning, including me, we might not have a deep understanding of what the Lord Jesus is like. But that’s okay because we make the effort to, step by step. As long as we remain in our faith till the end with continuous godly behaviour, the Lord rewards us still. For the last will be first (Mt 20:16).