As we read our Bible and see all it calls those who place their faith in God to do. We will come across certain things that seem strange. Things that to us seem impossible or just unnecessary. For instance, many see baptism as a strange command of God and don’t understand its significance. Many of us are probably taken back every time we read to turn the other cheek to the person who slaps us. Or to give to all those who ask and expect nothing in return. While there is much that could be taken as odd for us in our bibles it all pales in comparison to what Jesus once told Peter to do.
Matthew 17:27 (ESV)
27 However, not to give offense to them, go to the sea and cast a hook and take the first fish that comes up, and when you open its mouth you will find a shekel. Take that and give it to them for me and for yourself.”
Peter was a fisherman before he encountered Jesus. He spent his life catching fish and never once had he caught a fish and found money in its mouth. We have to assume as he made his way to the water he thought something like “catch a fish and you will find a coin in its mouth? There is no way that’s possible! Not once have I ever seen or even heard of something such as this happening. But I will do as my Lord has said”. It would have sounded so strange to anyone but so much more to a man who had lived by fishing. But because Peter had never seen anything Jesus said fail he went and did it.
In this circumstance we see Peter exhibit the same attitude he does in another place in scripture. He and his crew had fished all night and came up with nothing. Then a man named Jesus entered his boat. He told him to drop the nets right where they are to catch some fish. It seemed strange to the tired fisherman but he still let down his nets. What he pulled up was a catch so large it required assistance from another boat and nearly sunk both boats. This shows that the Lord always speaks the truth and when we do as he says the reward is great. Even at times almost more than we can bear.
Luke 5:4–7 (ESV)
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. 7 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.
It’s interesting to note that in the early account from Luke, Peter points out how he doesn’t really think anything will come from what Jesus says. Yet later in Matthew, he doesn’t even reply when Jesus tells him to do something far beyond the norm. Peter was always willing to do what the Lord commanded. But like us, he first had a comment to make it or a question to ask. Over time though he gave that up and simply did all he was asked without asking why or even how.
We need to adopt a similar mindset to the Apostle Peter. Christians should be willing to do whatever God says even if it seems strange. Even when it seems pointless or impossible. Everything God says is true, it will happen, it has a purpose, and is never meaningless. For instance, God commands the people of Israel not to marry foreigners in the land because they would turn them away from the one true God and to serve many false gods.
Deuteronomy 7:3–4 (ESV)
3 You shall not intermarry with them, giving your daughters to their sons or taking their daughters for your sons, 4 for they would turn away your sons from following me, to serve other gods. Then the anger of the Lord would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly.
That seems pretty straight forward right? Those who are already serving false gods will cause you to do the same. King Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, didn’t see it as so simple. This command of God must have seemed strange to him. He must have believed that he was wise enough not to be led to serving false gods. Yet God’s word is never wrong and His commands stand for a purpose. Solomon’s foreign wives did the very thing God said they would and caused him to turn toward false gods.
1 Kings 11:1–6 (ESV)
1 Now King Solomon loved many foreign women, along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, 2 from the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the people of Israel, “You shall not enter into marriage with them, neither shall they with you, for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods.” Solomon clung to these in love. 3 He had 700 wives, who were princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. 4 For when Solomon was old his wives turned away his heart after other gods, and his heart was not wholly true to the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. 5 For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 6 So Solomon did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and did not wholly follow the Lord, as David his father had done.
As you study scripture you will discover commands God has given His people that sound strange. There are things in the Bible that seem like they don’t matter or that simply don’t seem to make sense. It’s even easy to think that what it says will happen by not adhering to it won’t really happen to you. The truth is we simply aren’t always going to understand or even agree with the scripture at first. That’s okay because God never says we must understand or agree but we must obey.
Don’t write off certain things from scripture that seem strange to you. Don’t be like Solomon who had to find out the hard way that God’s word is never wrong. Instead, choose to be like Peter. Do that which the Lord has told you to even when it just seems crazy. You will be rewarded for doing so just as Peter was with a great catch and later a coin that somehow was found in the mouth of a living fish.
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