Fishing at the Master’s Word

Growing up in Ghana, we had to sell a few things as children. My parents did not own a shop so we went around hawking and I must confess that it was not easy. There were days we had a good market and there were days that we roamed the towns all day and yet we didn’t make any significant sales. However, on some bad sales days, we were able to make significant sales when old customers decided to buy in bulk. It was so relieving and the joy was inexpressible. I doff my hard for all children supporting their family businesses. You are champs! Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets.” (Luke 5:5) Bad business days can happen to anyone; whether you work in the corporate world or in the marketplace. Simon (Peter) and his fishing colleagues had a bad fishing day. They had worked all night and caught nothing. Jesus’ requested to use Simon’s boat as a podium to preach. Afterwards, Jesus said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4). Simon’s reply was that they had toiled all night but at Jesus’ words, they will let down the nets. They “caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink” (Luke 5:6‭-‬7). What a miracle? The same sea that refused to give fish all night long obeyed the voice of Jesus and spewed out enough fish to cause the nets to break and the boats to sink. When Jesus is at work, there is no barrenness, there is no lack, there is no deficiencies. Jesus completes all our needs. Simon and his colleagues could have just ignored Jesus and gone home. Afterall, they had toiled all night. But, their obedience to the voice of Jesus caused their overflow. Many of us are in similar positions. We have toiled all year, months, days, and nothing seems to work. We are in the 11th hour and the tendency is to pack our nets. Guess what, maybe we have not yet handed our boats over to Jesus. We may proclaim Him as Saviour but He is not our Lord. When was the last time we went out of our way to do something because of the Lord’s commands. Jesus demands a relationship from you. He is not just one of your customers, He is the owner of your life. Remember that you cannot draw near to Him if you are occupied with fishing for yourself. Take a step to hand that boat to Him and trust Him when He says throw down the net. Remember, if nothing seems to work and you know that you have a good relationship with the Lord, it could be that the time is not right for what you are looking for. Lazarus was in the tomb for four days but Jesus was not late. He was right on time to raise him from the dead. God is not done with you! I pray that we will come to the overflow experience. May God help us in our weaknesses to hand over our everything to Him. He is faithful.

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