Fishing

DEVOTION

THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

FISHING

John 21:4-6

4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. 5 He called out to them, "Friends, haven't you any fish?" "No," they answered. 6 He said, "Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some." When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.

NIV

Isn’t just like Jesus to provide when all our labor has been in vain. They had fished all night and caught not a single fish. They must have been a little frustrated, being fisherman and not having any fish to show for all their efforts. This was what they knew, they were educated in the art of fishing, they had the best training possible, they had studied at the finest academy of fishing, but none of that mattered this night, and they caught not a single fish. Yet when Jesus instructed them to cast their nets on the right side of the boat, they did just that and they had such a catch they could not get it in to the boat. Now we could see within this passage a parallel of when Jesus had first called them and told them he would make them fishers of men, and the great catch symbolized the great number of souls of men they would catch. But that would be spiritualizing way beyond this simple truth within this event. When we labor within the human realm our efforts will fall short of the desired goal God has for our life. Although we can study at the finest universities, receive the greatest of human knowledge available, hang degrees upon our walls, or train in the best academies or trade schools and become the finest in our skills receiving the recognition of men, without the direction of God in our lives, we will fall short of what God desires us to accomplish. They knew fishing yet their human efforts fell short, until Jesus directed them where to cast their nets. The simple truth here is that we need to be listening to Jesus. That is not to say we should not have the degrees or the skilled training, but when we look to ourselves for our benefit we may feel an empty reward, but when we look to Jesus for the direction of our life, we can be sure to experience fullness, a catch so large we cannot carry it all. When Jesus provides he provides abundantly. We can live within the human realm laboring within the confines of our own abilities, or we can depend on the voice of Jesus telling us how and where we should labor. Us or Jesus that is our choice, as to where we go fishing.