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Luke 5:5**And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.**Toiling and Taking Nothing**Peter’s response, “We have toiled all night and taken nothing nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”Don’t you know that this kind of response is one of the reasons why the Lord chose Peter to be an Apostle, a sent one? He is so much more like you and I than Paul or even John. Peter more than any other New Testament Bible character speaks his mind and says the things I’m thinking.Peter is blunt but truthful. “Lord, you know we fished all night, right.”For real fishermen, men who made their living catching and selling fish, nighttime was the best time to work. The fishermen would take torches and hold them close to the surface of the water where the fish would have risen after staying in the depths of the water during the heat of the day.The fish would by attracted to the light would swim near the boat and the men would cast a net and catch their fish.Peter knew this, he was a lifetime fisherman. He was the expert, Jesus was a just carpenter and now a Rabbi or teacher. Neither qualified him to tell Peter how to fish.Peter was also tired when he says we have fished all night. They started at sunset and fished until sunup.Finally, it wasn’t a good day for fishing. They hadn’t caught a thing. There just weren’t any fish in that lake. (When I fish, its always like this. I never catch anything. I have real fishermen tell me, I need the right equipment or the right time of day or time of year. But I know that when it comes to me and fish, even a stick of dynamite wouldn’t help. Poor Peter didn’t have any dynamite back then he’s tired and he wants to go home and sleep.)But Peter didn’t just say, “We’ve toiled all night and taken nothing.” This wasn’t the first time Jesus has called Peter, Andrew, James and John to be His followers. Peter knows this in not just another Preacher who doesn’t know a spinner from stink bait. No, Peter goes on and says, “Nevertheless, at thy word I will let down my net.”It didn’t make sense. It was contrary to experience. It was unfair to ask of men who were at the end of the strength to do anything else, but because Jesus said it, Peter responded, I’m going to do it because you said it.Do you see why Peter was the leader of this group both as fishers of fish and later as fishers of men? He saw the world of reality and doubt, even expressed those doubts but he still believed in Jesus, he still acted, he still stepped out in faith even when he couldn’t see how it was going to work out.If Jesus said, it then even if Peter didn’t believe it would work or understand how it could work, still he was going to do it, because Jesus said it. That is what faith is, that is what trust is.**Determined Despite Doubts**You know what the difference between us and Peter is? We have the same doubts about what the Lord is telling us in His Word, to do but instead of expressing those doubts and then doing it anyway, instead we don’t say anything and then we don’t do anything. As if our silence and our inaction will make the command null and void. “I’ll just pretend that wasn’t the Lord, speaking to me.”God’s word says, “Launch out into the deep with your finances.” “Launch out into the deep with your family.” “Launch out into the deep with your career.” Most challenging of all God says, “Launch out into the deep with your soul.” And yes, he is talking to you and me.We know what God is telling us to do but we say nothing and then we do nothing. It would be better if we stood up in the middle of Church shouted that God doesn’t make any sense, this can’t possibly work and then said, “To prove it I’m going to try it anyway just to show you.”But instead, we sit there in our cocoons of silence and our coffins of inactivity and refuse to act at all. Refuse to even try or to test God and His promises.You know what God himself says, “I am bigger than the doubts and greater than the tests. Try me!”Listen to Malachi 3:10 Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the LORD of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it.**God is greater than your tests.**Gideon tested God. Zechariah the father of John the Baptist tested God. Hannah the mother of Samuel tested God. They and many, many others stepped out, in spite of their doubts, in spite of their fears, and said, “Lord I can’t see how this is going to work but I’m going to do it anyway.”We need to have faith enough to at least express our doubts and then like Peter, Zechariah, or Hannah, put God to the test by obeying Him anyway. “Nevertheless at thy Word, I will…”