The halfhearted service, the halfhearted obedience, and the profanation are evident. The sacrifices that were being offered to God were being done in a way that was not acceptable to Him.
There is no indication that what these people were doing was deliberate. It seems that it was not a reasoned conclusion that it should be done this way. They were not purposefully worshipping God this way. It was not in their heart to do it! But it was nonetheless being done that way. They were treating God as though He and the things of the altar—the service and the sacrifice of the altar—were less important than other things. The way they performed the ritual showed that in their hearts they considered it a secondary matter. Other things were squeezing out what should have been their first priority.
Toiling for long hours trying to catch fish yet without results is especially exhausting and discouraging. Peter points out the obvious, but out of respect adds, "At Your word I will let down the net." Note that Jesus' command is for Peter to let down his "nets" (plural), yet he replies with "net" (singular). His obedience is half-hearted. Not completely understanding God's power in Jesus, he probably figures the result would be the same as his earlier lack of success. His unbelieving attitude exposes itself in poor-quality obedience. At this early stage, Peter is still learning about the power of the Creator to command His creation (John 1:3; Colossians 1:16).
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