An Abundant Catch

So what’s the end of the story? Yesterday’s post was about deep water – trusting God enough to set aside our own judgment, excuses, and experience, and to just trust God.

What happened when Simon threw his nets where into the scary deep water, into a place and during a time when all that he knows tells him that this crazy idea of Jesus’ won’t work?

Verses 6-7:

When they had done this, they caught so many fish that their nets were beginning to break. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both boats, so that they began to sink.

The catch was so large, so abundant, that their nets threatened to break, that they had to call for help and that their ships started to sink. The catch of fish was beyond their imagination.

I would think that nets would be very important to fishermen. Nets would be the tools of their livelihood. A good fisherman would have strong, well prepared and cared for nets. If he doesn’t take care of his nets, his family won’t eat. What does that say to us? If I can state an analogy, consider that our nets are the tools and gifts God has given us to do his work in the world. When we don’t care for them, when we ignore them or only use them with seeming ambivalence, then these tools will become less than reliable. If we ever do listen and obey God, then our nets will break, and the work will be for nothing. If we cannot imagine God’s abundance, then we need to be prepared for more than we can imagine.

The catch was so large, that they had to call for their partners. Who are our partners? We are part of the Body of Christ; God has given us an abundance of partners. And yet, what do we do? We fail to call of them when we need help. We think we can do it all ourselves, so we fail to engage the gifts of the rest of the Body in the work that God has set before us. More than gifts, though, what else can our partners do for us in the Body of Christ? They can encourage us. They can be the ones who point to God for us. Sometimes we need that extra boat, or that extra heart or bit of faith that our partners in Christ can provide. What would have happened if Simon hadn’t called for his friends? His boat would have sunk. All would have been lost. I think fishing for people might be even more complicated and difficult than fishing for fish. We have an even greater need of the Body of Christ than Simon had for his fisher partners. God doesn’t intend for us to do this on our own; in fact, he expects us to help each other.

The catch was so large that the boats began to sink. Do we believe it? Do we think that the work we do for God can be so fruitful as to overwhelm us? Do we have faith in abundance or are we convinced of scarcity? Do we truly have the faith to say, “God is going to overwhelm me today. He’s going to use me in such a way that even I can’t predict the results.”?

Get ready. Prepare your nets, call your friends, because God’s on the way to fill our boats to the point of more than abundance. Can you see it? Don’t worry; God can.

Images: The first image is of the sunset in southeastern WV as we drove through the countryside last weekend. The second picture of of tree branches and snow in our subdivision. It looked like cotton balls in the branches.