Launch Out Into The Deep, Evans Olang

Luke 5:1-11, “…Master we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your Word, I will let down the net” 

Peter and his friends were professional fishermen, their life occupation. They knew fish seasons and where to fish as experts. On this particular night, they caught nothing having fished all night long. The morning come, they were disappointed and all they can do was wash their nets. Customers were going to expect fish, they needed to make money, they needed to feed their families. I can imagine them pondering over what they will tell the people. In simple, their normal, daily routine had been interrupted and brought to a halt. Have you ever be at a place where everything you knew how to do at your job or at home all of a sudden was interrupted and those looking up to you were disappointed in you? Hang on, help is on the way.

Jesus came by and was teaching the word of God. He had great multitude listening to Him teach. Great thing about Him, He comes right when there is a need. In as much as people need a touch from Him, everyone has a different need and my need may not be yours. He saw a boat and requested to use as a pulpit to preach. Peter was asked to move the boat closer to the shore and he faithfully did it even in the midst of his disappointments. Jesus wanted to do something big and so He prepares everyone by teaching them. It is not mentioned to us as what He was teaching on, perhaps “faith”. Peter must have been listening carefully for the bible says in Romans 10:17, “… faith comes by hearing and hearing by the word of the Lord”. After Jesus did the Kingdom’s work, He tells Peter to launch into the deep, meaning cast his nets again in the same place he had tried fishing last night. Listen to his response “Master we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your Word, I will let down the net“. It’s easier to hear the word, “try another place” but to try the same place???. Yes you might have tried surviving in the same job and you already lost hope and instead of Him telling you to move on, He tells you to cast your nets again. You may have applied for a promotion and nothing has come through because of frustrations, instead of Him telling you to move out, He is telling you to cast your nets again in the same position. It’s not about what we know, what we can do or qualified to do, it’s about what God can do when we can’t do it. It’s being obedient to the word of God to the point where you do as He has said regardless of what you know. It may never make sense but the key word is “be obedient”. After all, many things that God say don’t make sense and if you tried to make sense out of them, you will never get anywhere because while you are busy making sense out of them, your blessings will be passing you by.

Peter’s obedience moved the Lord to provide the biggest catch in his history of fishing. He began to call on his friends to come out and help pull the nets which proves Proverbs 10:22, “The blessings of the Lord maketh rich and adds no sorrows with it”. The blessings of the Lord overtakes as the bible continues to say “try me and see if I will not open the windows of heaven and pour you out blessings that you will not have enough room to contain all of them”. What I’m I saying? Your place of misery could be your place of blessings, but you have to have the faith and take Him at His word. Had Peter explained how professional he was, and how he had done this for many years and refused just to apply the simply instruction, the blessing would have passed him by.

While this miracle is big, the message is not in the miracle, the message is in the bigger picture of what Christ would do through Peter by faith to bring souls into the kingdom. Even when the Lord blesses His children, there is always a bigger picture yet to be revealed. In short, the blessing is bigger than us all, its way more than for us.

If God still gives you grace to deal with something that you really would like to give up on, keep on standing and launching out in the deep. You have come too far to go back, you have gone too deep to fail. Blessings Ev