Behold in the miraculous draught of fishes, recorded in the 5th of Luke, the difference between working without the Lord and working with him. Jesus said, "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." (Luke 5:4)
Peter answered, "Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at your word I will let down the net." (Luke 5:5)
The result was that "they enclosed a great multitude of fishes." (Luke 5:5)
This miracle, which immediately preceded the calling of four of the apostles, was designed as a lesson for them, and for us as well. We may learn that work under the direction of the Lord, and with his presence, will bring great results, even after much more serious toil in the same place, without him, has accomplished nothing.
We hear a great deal in these days about working for the Lord, but very little about working with him. Now this latter is what the Bible speaks of, while it says nothing about the former. There is a vast difference. Many people, in their zeal to work for the Lord, set tasks for themselves which he has not required. This is not always the case; but if one is content to work only with the Lord, such a mistake can never be made.
He who works for the Lord often labors with all his might, but with only his own might, and then asks the Lord to bless his efforts. He who labors with the Lord asks the Lord to work in him "both to will and to do of His own good pleasure." (Philippians 2:13)
He who speaks only the words of the Lord, needs not to ask the Lord to "give power to the word," because he knows that: "No word from God shall be void of power." (Luke 1:37,RV) "My word ... shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it." (Isaiah 55:11) "We, then, as workers together with Him, beseech you also that you receive not the grace of God in vain." (2 Corinthians 6:1)--Present Truth, March 22, 1894--Timeline: IV-4 (The Call by the Sea)--Luke 5:4-6.