Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Luke 5:4 Now when He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, "Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch."
LET DOWN YOUR NETS FOR A CATCH!
When the crowds along the Sea of Galilee that day had pressed about Him, Jesus had stepped into Simon's boat there on the shore. Then, a short distance from shore, He taught the multitudes from the boat. Once His speaking was done, He turned His attention to the boat's owner, Simon, and spoke the words of our text.
I can only imagine the thoughts that raced through Simon's mind at these words! It was the middle of the day! No one goes fishing then -- especially not out in the deep part of the lake. Everything Jesus had told Simon to do was backward -- any fisherman could have told Him (and Simon was one professionally) that you fish in the morning or evening or at night, and that you do it along the shore where the fish feed. To do what Jesus said was foolhardy.
And yet what was it Jesus had said? "Let down your nets for a catch?" Not "to see if there might be anything there." Not "to see if we'll have any luck." No -- "let down your nets for a catch." It would be there, Jesus was saying.
And was it ever! There were so many fish that filled both of the boats to the point of being in danger of sinking.
Jesus had said, and it was so. The fish were in the net as Jesus' Word had promised. It was then, when they got back in to shore, that Jesus called these men to follow Him as full-time disciples -- "From now on you will catch men." Just as Jesus' Word had brought in the fish, so it would be that Jesus' Word would bring in people. It is through the use of the Gospel "net" that the Lord brings people into His kingdom.
You and I have been given that same net to use. Do we shrink from using it because it is "the wrong time of day," or perhaps the "wrong place"? Just as that Word brought in the fish, so let us use the Word in our "Sea of Galilee," in our surroundings, never doubting but that the Gospel is "the power of God to the salvation of all who believe" (Romans 1:16).
