On one occasion, while the crowd was pressing in on him to hear the word of God, he was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. Getting into one of the boats, which was Simon's, he asked him to put out a little from the land. And he sat down and taught the people from the boat. And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking. They signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. But when Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish that they had taken, and so also were James and John, sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid; from now on you will be catching men.” And when they had brought their boats to land, they left everything and followed him. (Luke 5:1-11)
The more we pray through God’s word (biblical meditation), the more we add truths that become superimposed over everything we read. For example, knowing the Bible is “the word of God” means that everything we read in Scripture is holy ground because it is “breathed out by God” (II Timothy 3:16-17).
The same is true when we keep in mind that Jesus is “the Word” who “was with God, and the Word was God” (John 1:1-5). Whatever we read about Jesus is watching “the Word” who “became flesh and dwelt among us” doing his work. Everything Jesus did was as the personal presence of God’s communication to his people.
I was being moved by the wonder of these references to God’s word, that Jesus is “the Word”, he was teaching “the word of God”, and he gave a “word” of instruction to Peter. It is such a comprehensive picture of how God communicates through his Son in both the big-picture “word” of the Scriptures and his leading of us as individuals with the personal words of his instructions to us.
But then I looked up the definition of “astonished”, trying to attach to the impact of Jesus’ miracle on these people, and that’s when I was astonished!!!
I discovered that this one English word came from two Greek words. The first word meant, “astonishment n. — an overwhelming feeling of stunning wonder” and the second “to overwhelm ⇔ encircle v. — to overwhelm emotionally, conceived of as an emotion extending on all sides of someone simultaneously” (Bible Sense Lexicon).
So, first I was astonished that “astonished” was two words, but then I was moved that the two words were a noun and a verb. The first word (noun) indicated what this response was; the second described how that thing (astonishment) acted on people.
For me, I ended up being overwhelmed with wonder and joy at all the weaving together of words so that I was in wonder that Jesus impacts people with astonishing astonishment! It made me want to know him like that in life. What would it look like for me to know God in a way that overwhelmed me like that?!
My whole life I have been a slow-and-steady-as-she-goes kind of guy. That is a good thing to contribute to church life. However, it leaves me jealous (in a good way) of people who are so utterly moved with emotion that overtakes them as described in this scene of His-story.
But what this meditation on God’s word did for me this morning is give me a deepened longing to know God’s work in overwhelming ways, and to continue seeking all the realities of knowing God in this lifetime even if it is at the return of Christ that I am finally overwhelmed with utterly astonishing astonishment that fills me with that “joy unspeakable and full of glory” Peter later wrote about (I Peter 1:3-9).
How I long to see people share in such fellowship that we love Jesus as “the Word”, we attach to his teaching of “the word of God”, and we listen for “your word” to direct us in the specifics of “hearing what the Spirit is saying to the churches” each day.
God’s word shows how personal this can be. It is ours to keep asking, seeking, and knocking, so we receive, find, and open the doors to knowing God better every day than we have ever known him before. And that most certainly is how I am feeling this morning!
© 2025 Monte Vigh ~ Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8
Email: in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version. ESV® Text Edition: 2016. Copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.)
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