Deep Water

 

For a Catch
Photo by Bgrace

  "One day, as Yeshua was standing on the shore of Lake Kinneret, with the people pressing in around him in order to hear the word of God, he noticed two boats, pulled up on the beach, left there by the fishermen, who were cleaning their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Shim'on, and asked him to put out a little way from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Shim'on, "Put out into deep water, and let down your nets for a catch." Shim'on answered, "We've worked hard all night long, Rabbi, and haven't caught a thing! But if you say so, I'll let down the nets." They did this and took in so many fish that their nets began to tear." (Luke 5:1-6 JNT)

"Put out into deep water..."

The other day these words called to me and drew me in. Isn't it often after a long night of casting with nothing to show for it but heavy eyes and a dirty net that the Lord comes and calls us to put out into deep waters? Peter wasn't one of the ones pressing in to hear Jesus' teaching.  He was sitting in his boat.  I think he was too tired. He was at the end of his strength, his resources, his abilities.

Do you experience those times when you feel like you're in a haze? Everything internally just seems to run together and nothing feels clear, you take a step but you don't really know if its forward or backward. You sit, and you wait, you read and you listen.  You vascillate and you want so much to come up with some answers, or to see that all your work hasn't been in vain. Yet it seems you are surrounded with nothing but empty nets.

Jesus comes to us at this moment and says, "I'll go with you--let's go out into deep waters."

It seems He calls us right when we reach the point of not trusting anymore, doesn't it?

That space of time when we put all our effort in and see no results.

I'm learning that an important part of any miracle is the space between our effort and God's provision. Without that space, we won't recognize the miracle.

Well, Lord, I've been fishing all night. I got nothin. Now you want me to lean in deeper?

Yet, there is a promise in the call--don't miss it.
"Let down your nets for a catch."

My Lord,
Thank you for calling me out into deep waters.
If You say so, I will let down my net one more time.
Even when I wonder if it will do any good, when I feel like giving up, when it is all I can do to sit in the silence and the emptiness and the waiting for You to speak.
Because those are the conditions that must be present for me to recognize You.
Your voice, Your presence, Your work, Your miracle.
You are calling me into deeper waters, and I need a bigger space to make room for what you have to teach me.
I will remember Your call comes with promise and with purpose.
Make me a fisher of women and of men.