Recognizing a prophet or the Savior - Peter's example

Peter likely spent his entire life as a fisherman. As a result he could easily recognize when an outcome was unusual or peculiar when it came to fishing. During one of their first encounters, Jesus used Peter's ship as a platform for speaking. Afterwards, he invited Peter to go back out and fish, saying that Peter would catch some fish. Peter said, "it's unlikely we'll catch anything as we haven't all day, but if you tell me to fish, I'll do it." The outcome of fishing was perhaps the greatest catch Peter had ever participated in. He immediately recognized Jesus as a divine person and worshiped him. This quick recognition led to an invitation to help others recognize the Savior as a disciple and later Apostle of the Savior.

Below is the actual text from Luke. I think 2 ideas are of particular note:

1) When an unusual or very good result happens in a situation in life and it is tied to God in some way, it is important to recognize that as something God was involved in. This is a sign of a spiritual person. It can be very logical to conclude God was involved as is the case in this example.

2) Christ has an ability to multiply our abilities. If everything we did were efficient, we would be so much more capable. We need him to help us be more capable and accomplish more. It appears he's willing to do this in our work as well as in our efforts to serve him as long as his help ends up leading to more efforts to serve him (as in Peter's case).

1 And it came to pass, that, as the people pressed upon him to hear the word of God, he stood by the lake of Gennesaret,

2 And saw two ships standing by the lake: but the fishermen were gone out of them, and were washing their nets.

3 And he entered into one of the ships, which was Simon’s, and prayed him that he would thrust out a little from the land. And he sat down, and taught the people out of the ship.

4 Now when he had left speaking, he said unto Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a ^adraught.

5 And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have ^atoiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.

6 And when they had this done, they inclosed a great multitude of fishes: and their net ^abrake.

7 And they beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them. And they came, and filled both the ships, so that they began to sink.

8 When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord.

9 For he was astonished, and all that were with him, at the draught of the fishes which they had taken:

10 And so was also James, and John, the sons of Zebedee, which were partners with Simon. And Jesus said unto Simon, Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt ^acatch men.

11 And when they had brought their ships to land, they ^aforsookall, and ^bfollowed him.

Being close to the Lord - what can keep it from happening?

Christ explains why people don't come to him in D.C. 84.

49And the whole ^aworld lieth in sin, and groaneth under^bdarkness and under the ^cbondage of sin.

50And by this you may know they are under the ^abondage of sin, because they come not unto me.

51For whoso cometh not unto me is under the ^abondage of sin.

52And whoso receiveth not my voice is not acquainted with ^amyvoice, and is not of me.

53And by this you may know the righteous from the wicked, and that the whole ^aworld ^bgroaneth under sin and darkness even now.

Interesting that it is sin that blinds us to Christ. Apparently, even in this world where we walk by faith, if we're not involved in any sin, it should be somewhat obvious to us that Christ is involved. One of the sins of this generation is pride, which probably is the sin that keeps some from recognizing God in their lives.

Also, consider this verse in Helaman 13. Here Samuel the Lamanite says that those who have done wickedly are surrounded by evil spirits. I think that is a literal truth, not something figurative (just as it is clear from the scriptures and some stories that there are angels around as well):

36O that we had repented in the day that the word of the Lord came unto us; for behold the land is cursed, and all things are become slippery, and we cannot hold them.

37Behold, we are surrounded by ^ademons, yea, we are encircled about by the angels of him who hath sought to destroy our souls. Behold, our iniquities are great. O Lord, canst thou not turn away thine anger from us? And this shall be your language in those days.

Therefore, when we are making errors, we are more influenced by the bad of the world, and it's more difficult to discern Christ and accept him and his Gospel. The converse is also true. When we are doing good and being close to the good, it is much more likely that Christ becomes apparent to us and that we accept him.

Finally, as an aside, people talk about how 'evil' can come to us in ways never before seen in the world. I just had an experience with this. I was looking at the referring sources for the blog (i.e., where visitors came from that came here) and clicked on one of the links, and it was a pornography page - many naked pictures. I quickly closed it, but it's incredible that this is so accessible that I stumbled upon it. My kids are going to encounter difficult things in their lives...