As I was out on the kayak today, the weather was gorgeous and the water was clear. I didn’t really have a destination, except to look at the fall leaves, birds and fish. I even spotted a crayfish scuttling along the bottom of the lake.
This reminded me of something that I’ve been meaning to talk to you about. As the kayak noses through the water, sometimes I come up onto a fish and it gets spooked, when other times it just settles a little deeper towards the bottom of the lake.
In John 21, Jesus appears to seven disciples after His resurrection. The disciples had gone fishing all night and caught nothing, and in the morning Jesus was standing on the shore. He called out to them, asking if they had made a catch, but they replied no. Verse 6 says, “Then he said, ‘Throw out your net on the right-hand side of the boat, and you’ll get some!’ So they did, and they couldn’t haul in the net because there were so many fish in it.”
My kayak is not as wide as a fishing boat. It is estimated that their boat could have been about 8 feet wide. In a lake, the difference between one side of the boat to the other is not very much. Paddling could scare the fish away to the other side of the boat.
Who knew where the fish were? Jesus did.
Who knows how our provision will come now? Jesus does. He wants to tell us the right side of the boat-where we need to cast our net, but how many times are we asking for that guidance?
We’ve been taught to be independent. The devil whispers that we’re all alone. We have to do it by ourselves. What else does he say to you? When your friend doesn’t answer the phone, he whispers, “See, she’s too busy for you.” When you have prayed to the Lord for a family member to be healed, the devil says, “See, God doesn’t really care.” When you pray to get a certain job, the enemy whispers, “See, you’re just not good enough.”
I’m sure this is what Peter was thinking as he went fishing that day. He had denied Jesus three times, after proclaiming that he was the one who would never be a deserter. Jesus took this opportunity to not only feed him, but to restore him to his position as a disciple.
The crazy thing about the enemy's voice is that it’s disguised as our own. Do you think that he doesn’t know you? Or, it could sound like your dad, who always told you that you would never be good enough. Or, that voice could sound like a teacher that you had, who told you that you weren’t smart enough to be a doctor.
Peter, Andrew, James and John were fishermen by trade long before they were called to be disciples by Jesus. They knew how to fish. They were used to doing that on their own. Jesus wanted to show them that by listening to His voice, he could tell them which side of the boat that the fish were on. He wants me to ask and learn how to listen. He wants my path to be straight. However, I have to learn how to discern His voice and capture the others so that they don’t steer me wrong.
Let's start a conversation. Tell me about a time that you heard the Lord’s voice clearly.
Comments