Daily Devotional | Peter’s Fear of the Lord

Fat Bear Week is held every year at Katmai National Park in Alaska. Twelve bears are entered into a bracket-style competition, with online viewers voting based on the bears’ success at fishing for salmon from the Brooks River. The winner in 2023 was a female bear named 128 Grazer. The National Park Service has been tracking her since she was a cub and called her one of the most skilled anglers in the region.

Luke 5 contains another good fishing story. Jesus boarded Peter’s boat so that He could put out from shore a bit and better teach the crowds. Sadly, Peter and Andrew hadn’t caught any fish all night. When Jesus gave the word, though, they let down their nets and miraculously caught so many that the nets were near breaking and the boat near sinking (vv. 6–7). They had to call James and John to help!

Peter knew he was in the presence of a Man who could do the impossible. He felt “astonished” at Jesus’s awe-inspiring display of power over creation, as well as a strong sense of his own sin and unworthiness. He fell at Jesus’ knees and said, “Go away from me, Lord; I am a sinful man!” (v. 8; see Isa. 6:5). In short, he felt the fear of the Lord. Though Peter had turned in the right direction, toward Jesus, the Lord still had to tell him, “Don’t be afraid” (v. 10). All four fishermen responded in faith to this miracle and to Jesus’s compelling and somewhat humorous call, “From now on you will fish for people” (vv. 10–11).

In this episode, Peter and the others felt God’s power and authority. They sensed that Jesus was the Son of God. They felt a fear that pulled them toward Him, and they left everything to become His disciples.