The Holy One calls to me this morning. "Push out into the deeps". It seems that I have already done that many times in my relationship with the Lord who speaks that command. "The deeps", like dark water, is fearsome to me. The big unknown, the mysterious ways of the Great I AM, and the sense of being so out of control all lend to the "oh no" that tries to come out of a tense exhaled breath.
Deeper water, like higher feeding ground for the sheep, requires effort and energy and letting go of familiar boundaries of temporal existence. But then, I made a promise to the One who died for me, that where He leads I will follow, and He has taken me at my word.
There have been days and times when I couldn't see the path but I could see Him. And then there have been days when life was so foggy that I couldn't see the path or Him, but I heard His gentle voice and knew He was not far away so I was safe.
That has been my experience with my beloved, so today, while the call is to "push out into the deep" brings some fear, I know all is well in the boat. The study of Luke 5, where Jesus said to Peter, "Put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch", He was setting the people up for an amazing miracle of God. When the Holy Spirit of the Savior speaks a command, we will miss something amazing if we fail to obey.
Jesus came to show us the goodness of our God, not to harm us or rain on our temporal parade. Those in the boat were called into service, not unlike us. After a long night of fruitless effort, the Lord was asking them to use what little energy they had left and "put out into deep water", where their knowledge of fishing and their nets used in the shallows would, in the natural, be useless.
Common knowledge and their old life was about to change forever. It is interesting to me that only the Disciples were called into the boat and told to "put out". The crowds were following to "hear", but the Disciples were there to "do".
Being a Disciple of Christ is quite different than just hearing and believing His message. It seems that one can trust Jesus as Savior, yet not experience the depths of a life and relationship with Him like Peter, James and John.
To see and do the "greater works" that He promised, we must be willing to get back into the boat and against all our human wits and wisdom "put out into deep water". Spending time at His feet, reading and obeying the directives in His Word as the Spirit reveals what they mean in my life, are all a part of going deep.
Then comes the hard part. The "catch" that the fishermen received, required help from others to finish the work of hauling it in. That is called community effort. Most of the time it seems so difficult to work in community, yet that is what is required if we are to see the amazing intervention of God's hand benefiting the world of men. We find so many reasons to act alone or "possess" the work we may be called to participate in. But inter-dependency with fellow servants is God's plan.
The "catch" represents a lot of things symbolically, especially since the Lord referred to it as being the "men" in Peter's future, but today, I see it as abundant prosperity for the fishermen, the company they may have worked for, and the people of the region who would enjoy the bounty and the blessing.
I also see that, without working together to bring in all that Jesus brought forth to a blessed end, the catch would have remained in the sea. The coffer or stomach would have remained empty and the plan of God left unfulfilled.
Peter would not be a lone servant but rather a builder of the "organized" unit we call the church. His future "catch" would require a lot more hands to help in the haul. Networking as a "community" of people toward the same goal or plan of God was going to be required for the future work of evangelism.
As the Holy One calls me this morning, my tendency toward isolation needs an overhaul. My fear of man or getting involved with others defines my comfort zones in life and yet I know the Lord is taking me to places of inter-dependency that will stretch my self-sufficiency again.
At the conclusion of today's counselling session, I realize I must never allow my fear of the unknown get in the way of my obedience to the Lord's commands. I know that the call to work together with other servants somehow ties to God's Divine plan. I must be willing to go on with the Lord "into the deeps", for who knows what miracles I might miss out on, if I choose to remain on the shore?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
Deeper water, like higher feeding ground for the sheep, requires effort and energy and letting go of familiar boundaries of temporal existence. But then, I made a promise to the One who died for me, that where He leads I will follow, and He has taken me at my word.
There have been days and times when I couldn't see the path but I could see Him. And then there have been days when life was so foggy that I couldn't see the path or Him, but I heard His gentle voice and knew He was not far away so I was safe.
That has been my experience with my beloved, so today, while the call is to "push out into the deep" brings some fear, I know all is well in the boat. The study of Luke 5, where Jesus said to Peter, "Put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch", He was setting the people up for an amazing miracle of God. When the Holy Spirit of the Savior speaks a command, we will miss something amazing if we fail to obey.
Jesus came to show us the goodness of our God, not to harm us or rain on our temporal parade. Those in the boat were called into service, not unlike us. After a long night of fruitless effort, the Lord was asking them to use what little energy they had left and "put out into deep water", where their knowledge of fishing and their nets used in the shallows would, in the natural, be useless.
Common knowledge and their old life was about to change forever. It is interesting to me that only the Disciples were called into the boat and told to "put out". The crowds were following to "hear", but the Disciples were there to "do".
Being a Disciple of Christ is quite different than just hearing and believing His message. It seems that one can trust Jesus as Savior, yet not experience the depths of a life and relationship with Him like Peter, James and John.
To see and do the "greater works" that He promised, we must be willing to get back into the boat and against all our human wits and wisdom "put out into deep water". Spending time at His feet, reading and obeying the directives in His Word as the Spirit reveals what they mean in my life, are all a part of going deep.
Then comes the hard part. The "catch" that the fishermen received, required help from others to finish the work of hauling it in. That is called community effort. Most of the time it seems so difficult to work in community, yet that is what is required if we are to see the amazing intervention of God's hand benefiting the world of men. We find so many reasons to act alone or "possess" the work we may be called to participate in. But inter-dependency with fellow servants is God's plan.
The "catch" represents a lot of things symbolically, especially since the Lord referred to it as being the "men" in Peter's future, but today, I see it as abundant prosperity for the fishermen, the company they may have worked for, and the people of the region who would enjoy the bounty and the blessing.
I also see that, without working together to bring in all that Jesus brought forth to a blessed end, the catch would have remained in the sea. The coffer or stomach would have remained empty and the plan of God left unfulfilled.
Peter would not be a lone servant but rather a builder of the "organized" unit we call the church. His future "catch" would require a lot more hands to help in the haul. Networking as a "community" of people toward the same goal or plan of God was going to be required for the future work of evangelism.
As the Holy One calls me this morning, my tendency toward isolation needs an overhaul. My fear of man or getting involved with others defines my comfort zones in life and yet I know the Lord is taking me to places of inter-dependency that will stretch my self-sufficiency again.
At the conclusion of today's counselling session, I realize I must never allow my fear of the unknown get in the way of my obedience to the Lord's commands. I know that the call to work together with other servants somehow ties to God's Divine plan. I must be willing to go on with the Lord "into the deeps", for who knows what miracles I might miss out on, if I choose to remain on the shore?
The Spirit is calling. Can you hear Him?
No comments:
Post a Comment