Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draught (Luke 5:4, KJV).
I have been studying the story of Jesus using Simon Peter’s boat as a podium from which he could teach the crowds that had followed Him to the edge of the Sea of Galilee. (Luke calls this large body of fresh water the Lake of Gennesaret in Chapter 5.)
When He finished teaching, Jesus told his soon-to-be disciple to launch out a bit from the bank and let his fishing nets down into the deeper water for a promised catch of fish.
True to what we know and love of Simon Peter’s nature, he had a ready response: “Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net” (Luke 5:5, KJV).
Nevertheless! I love this word. It sums up the faith of a tired and discouraged man, the faith of someone who wanted to believe. But Peter was weary. He was just like you and me when we do our best and come up empty-handed, or we try what seems like a thousand times, and we fail – again.
Peter had fished all night long. He must have been exhausted because net fishing was not an easy task. It required strength and determination, and a depth of perseverance many people (then and now) lack. He was probably physically broken and financially broke – maybe even dreading going home with empty hands and an empty pocketbook.
When Jesus found Peter, he was near his boat, close to his only source of income, and he was washing his nets. It was a nasty but necessary task to keep the tools of his trade intact for his next long night of fishing. If he had no fishing nets, he had no hope.
So, there he knelt in the shallows of the water, washing nets that had rendered him nothing during the whole long night. Then, all of a sudden, there came a Man, a carpenter by trade, not a fisherman. And this carpenter was telling a seasoned fisherman from one of the most productive fishing villages in all of Israel where and how to fish.
Peter could have given the Carpenter a seminar on how to fish successfully in Lake Gennesaret. He knew every trick of the trade from years of experience and generations of local fishermen. He knew that the best catches always took place in the dark cover of night when the big fish came close to shore to prey upon the smaller fish of the shallows.
Seriously, Peter knew how and when to fish and how and when not to fish.
Nevertheless, the veteran fisherman obeyed the Carpenter. He launched his boat out into the deeper waters and let down his nets one more time.
One more time! Have you ever been there, friend? I have!
I have been so tired and so weary from trying to do what was right – with no success or hope of anything different. I have given an unpleasant task my very best effort over and over again, only to feel like a complete failure over and over again.
And countless times, I have reached out to people with kindness and love, and in return, I was rebuffed and rejected. More than I care to recount, I have forgiven and offered forgiveness to people who had hurt me deeply and without remorse. I have sewn in tears and repeatedly reaped nothing but more tears.
Yes, I have been like Peter.
Just like this calloused and weary fisherman, I have looked in the eyes of the Master and tried one more time – not because I had to. But because somewhere deep inside my heart, I knew His way was the best way, the only way. And somehow, I hoped beyond hope that every Word He ever spoke was absolute truth.
And just like Peter when he let down his nets one more time, I discovered that Jesus was and is, and always will be faithful and true.
In fact, God has blessed me so much that, at times, I too had to call for friends and family to share my blessings. I had to draw them to the Savior’s side! I just had to. For He was too wonderful not to share!
So, today, if you are weary and tired of trying, don’t give up. If you are wary and afraid to hope again, hope anyway. Please! Just keep putting one foot in front of the other foot and walk toward Jesus. Most of all, listen carefully to His precious encouragement. I promise! He is there, right beside you as you desperately try to wash away your own regrets and failures.
And He is speaking to you with the same, assuring words He spoke to Simon Peter: Launch out into the deep one more time and let down your nets. There’s a great catch waiting on you.
