Trusting God's Call: Stepping Into Deeper Waters of Faith and Leadership

Dear Sisters and Brothers in Christ, greetings to you all in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Oh, we are a stiff-necked people, complained Moses, as he considered our human capacity to resist bowing to God’s will.  The idea that we, who were created by God could, or even would, try to resist the will of God, seems crazy to us as we read stories in the Bible.   And yet, how often, in practice, do we resist The LORD while living our day to day lives?

We know what God wants and expects of us, and we would never openly suggest that we know better than God.  But the truth be told, too often we resist the commands of God and Jesus.  We have all manner of reasons to do so; from the fear of embarrassment to fearing the potential danger to our lives and all the excuses in between.   The idea of resisting the will of God is difficult for us to admit, in part because we think of that resistance in terms of deliberate rebellion against God’s authority.   I do not believe it is a matter of deliberate rebellion.  It is, however, an issue of trust more than anything else. 

Most recognize God’s sovereignty and Jesus’ Lordship over us, but we find it difficult to listen to what we are commanded because we don’t always trust that it will work out in the end.  We have doubts and questions about the actions to which we are called.  Sometimes our lack of trust creates genuine fear, and sometimes we simply don’t want to “waste our time” in a fruitless effort. And in time, it all whittles away at our faith and commitment.  But what if we tried to trust a little bit more?

Luke 5: 1-6 (ESV) reads, “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, 2 and he saw two boats by the lake, but the fishermen had gone out of them and were washing their nets. 3 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. 4 And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 5 And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” 6 And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.”

Jesus asks Peter to go out and catch some fish.  Peter at first replies with an excuse as to why they should not.  Over the years, scholars and preachers have characterized this response as Peter thinking that the request was somewhere between stupid and crazy, after all, what does a carpenter turned preacher know about fishing?  We chuckle at Peter’s initial response, but really should pay more attention to the second half of verse 5, “But at your word I will…”  in other words, “because you said so…”

Jesus constantly asks his disciples (us) to push out into the deeper waters of faithful action.  And sometimes it sounds scary, or crazy, or ‘just plain stupid.’  It is almost always involves some measure of risk and often it is inconvenient.  But consider what might happen if we set aside the fear and doubt and simply did it ‘because Jesus said so’?  We too might witness a miracle, just as Peter did.

In 2025, the synod leadership has set as one of our priorities to identify potential leaders among people in our churches.  Primarily we are looking for those who might feel a call to lead the people of God in worship as preachers, teachers, and pastors, serving as Commissioned Pastors or perhaps Ministers of Word and Sacrament.  Are you feeling that call?  Or is there a person in your congregation that you feel might demonstrate the gifts needed for such a calling?  We want to support and equip people in their discernment as they consider the push out into the deeper waters of leadership.

May the blessings of God, the peace of Jesus Christ, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit be with you all.

Mitch Miller

Synod Leader and Stated Clerk