Luke 5:2-6 NLT “He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.’ ‘Master,’ Simon replied, ‘we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.’And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear!”
I have felt unnoticed before. I’m sure there have been times you have felt that way, too. I imagine these fishermen in the above account felt a bit defeated and unnoticed. They had worked all night long and caught nothing. There was no measurable outcome for all their effort. At that moment, Jesus comes and says, “Now go out.”
If you say so
Shoulders shrugging, feet shuffling, I can hear the sighs in Simon’s (Peter’s) voice. He says with resignation, “But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.”
I’ve worked hard over seasons and seen nothing measurable resulting from it. All that testifies of my toil is the weariness enveloping my body and soul. This weariness has a cumulative effect on me. The more I work, the less it seems I have to show for it. For some reason, I keep trying because I believe that God’s Word is true. It just takes time for it to come into its season.
That doesn’t make the work any easier.
That doesn’t make me feel any more noticed.
Washing nets
What I have learned, and this is where the beauty of experience shines through, is that I now know beyond a shadow of a doubt that Someone does see. Some of the things I do are spot-on, and others are more self-centered. The times weariness overwhelms me is when my focus shifts to my shortcomings. I then easily forget that Someone is watching my efforts. When I’m feeling tired I can be found taking extra time washing my nets.
Washing nets, and focusing on myself and my disappointments, is easier to do than focusing on the hurting world around me. If I allow them, those repeated disappointments can make me feel rejected, and unnoticed. Then, dejected and exhausted, I find myself scrubbing and mending nets (licking my wounds) on the shore.
He has noticed
Until, that is, Jesus makes me aware fresh and new that He has noticed my empty boat. He has noticed my efforts and He has gotten into my boat with me. And having Him with me changes everything.
“Now go out” is the call that comes to me in this new season of my life. Maybe this is the call for you as well. It’s time to go out a little deeper and farther from the safety of shore where the only hope we have when storms arise is in Christ Himself.
Fishermen are meant to fish
When a fisherman spends more of his life on shore than in the water, his value comes into question. Because fishermen are meant to fish. The kind of fish I’m after are out in the deep waters where waves and wind rise. But, I am born to fish (Matthew 4:19).
The fish are not going to be found on the shore. They are there out deep in the water. There are some fish near the relative safety of the shore. But the bigger schools of fish, the net-breaking, record-shattering ones are found where it’s deep.
Now go out.
