Casting Your Nets

Luke 5:4-6
"And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets." And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking."

I read this story tonight. It's crazy. I mean, I've read/heard it many times, but I've never stopped to just think about how crazy this moment actually was.

These men had been fishing all night long, catching NOTHING...I'm no expert fisherman, but that's a BAD day on the lake. It's not probable to be out that long and not catch anything. But then I started thinking more about this whole ordeal, and about the deeper meaning hidden within the text.

When God speaks, it's with authority. Sometimes I think we forget that. Our God is much higher and stronger than our tiny minds can comprehend. I know that I forget how powerful His words are, and the fact that there really is true authority behind them. That He is not just some god that is created by man to rule man, but that He is God, the CREATOR of man.

He calls us to 'let down our nets' just like Jesus calls Simon to do. The purpose of a net is to hold things, to capture something and to not let it go until the holder of the net desires. In this story, that's exactly what the men are doing. Simon says to Jesus, 'we toiled all night and took nothing.' They are casting their nets, to meet their needs, to satisfy their hunger, in order to live their lives successfully for themselves. They are trying to do it all themselves. Jesus said to let go of whatever you are clinging to, whatever your grasp is holding so tightly to that your knuckles are white, and to let him take control.

Simon teaches us something powerful, though, when he says 'But at your word I will let down the nets.' His obedience is something to be modeled. 'They had enclosed a large number of fish, and their nets were breaking.' God will bless the life of the obedient man. (But don't make up your own definition for blessings. Blessings does not mean that you will get everything that your human body desires. Blessings are the gracious gifts of God that come in many different ways.) He will give that man the joy and radiance of life that nothing earthly could ever give.

At His Word! At His word we are called to let go. Don't turn a deaf ear to the whisper of your Creator and Savior and Lord.