and their nets were breaking....

In Luke ch. 5, we see a miracle of Jesus. At this point in his ministry, Jesus has just left the wilderness being tempted by Satan, and is ready to call his first disciples. The story takes place on one occasion of Jesus' teaching to the crowds. He was standing by a lake as the crowd continued to press him (v.1). To avoid being overrun by the sheer force of the crowd, he instructs some fishermen to pull their boats out a little way from the land to give Jesus some space.

These fishermen were cleaning their nets. Fishermen don't clean their nets BEFORE they fish, the clean them after. These guys has been on the water all night. As professional fishermen, they knew the best time and place to fish and had been there at the right place and the right time, but caught nothing (v.5). They were literally getting ready to go home for dinner when Jesus called them. It was probably very inconvenient. That seems to be the Lord's preferred time to call his people.

What these fishermen didn't realize is that they were hosting the Son of God on their ship. The one who had created them and the fish they were looking for. (v.4) And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, "Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch." Simon immediately responds: "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But, at your word I will let down the nets." Is this not how we approach God so often? I know through this support raising process that's how I've felt. There were many occasions where I talked to my parents and the people leading our team and told them that I just couldn't see where the money was going to come from. I had exhausted all of MY efforts, and I equated that with exhausting all of God's efforts.

As you probably know, as soon as the fishermen obeyed Christ, they caught so many fish that the nets were breaking! They had to get another boat to help them! Remember, these are the guys who had fished all night long and had no luck. These were professionals, who knew the lake like no one else did. It was nonsense for someone to tell them how or where to fish. BUT, when they did what Jesus said, even though it was against everything that they knew to be right, he blessed them with an abundance of fish.

When I heard this story growing up in sunday school, I thought of it as just that, a story. Don't get me wrong, I believed that Jesus was real and that this miracle really happened; but it wasn't real in my heart. I couldn't wrap my mind around what it really looked like in real life. I've spent this semester trying to raise funding to go to Australia and San Diego. In total, I was trying to raise $6,650. This is a huge sum of money that my family and I don't have! If nothing else came in other than what a few more families have already committed to, I will of received $6,850. In spite of my doubt and unbelief, God provided for me just like he did Simon Peter. And not only provided, but gave me more than enough so that I can help the rest of my team.

I can only think of one appropriate response to this sort of provision: the same thing Simon Peter did. To fall down at Jesus' feet and repent of my own lack of faith, to repent of trusting in my own ability, and to repent of doubting the power of the Son of God. I must also not forget what I've learned through this. People have and will continue to fish all through the night in Australia. I must trust in God that not seeing fruit immediately does not mean that no fruit is coming. Sometimes we exhaust all of our own efforts before God begins to use us. He takes us to the point of utter desperation, makes us fish all night, makes us depend solely upon him without seeing any way that success is possible, then rocks our world with his power. Amen to a God who is not limited by my incapabilities and doesn't work on my schedule.