Catch & Release

The Lord knows those who are His.

Whenever Jesus goes fishing for disciples, He already knows who will become His catch of the day; one of His many faithful followers. His true disciples will see His invitation to follow Him as a supernatural blessing, while others will see His invite as a curse.

While Jesus was teaching at the shore of the Sea of Galilee (Luke 5), more and more people continued to gather to hear Him. At the same time fishermen had pulled their two boats up onto the shoreline after fishing all night. Their boats and nets stayed empty all nigh and they were washing their nets.

Think about this: Jesus was sent by God to this specific shore to call His first disciples. He knew it was the place ordained by His Father to begin the training that would eventually change the world with His life-giving message. He knew their hearts would sovereignly be transformed, from being fishermen to become fishers of men. 

With crowds pressing in on Him on the shore, Jesus came to the water's edge, stepped into what was Simon's boat and asked him to "put out a little from shore" so He could continue teaching the crowd. Simon, who would be later called Peter, was already worn out from fishing all night. Exhausted. Tired. Probably sleepy, too. Ya think?

When Jesus finished teaching, He said to weary Simon, "Put out into the deep water and let down the nets for a catch."

Simon answered, "Master, we've worked so hard all night and haven't caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets" (Luke 5:5).

Wait a minute! You mean weariness isn't an acceptable reason to say "no" to Jesus when He gives us a command? Nope. Why? By faith, if we really know Him, we would, even when we're exhausted, realize Jesus has specific purposes for everything He does! He says they will turn out for good (Romans 8:28). Just do it and watch what God will do with our faith and obedience.

But what if we were fishing all night and not catching anything? Why would we go back out on the same night?  Simon was frustrated and exhausted because he didn't catch any fish all night! But he obeyed anyway.  And maybe with Jesus helping, things would turn out differently. Ya think? Uh-huh. That's right.

When we don't do what we know is the right thing to do, we're not believing God is always working things out for our good. Again, Simon was very tired, and Jesus was fully aware of his state. This is an example where our faith comes in; we don't always know why God urges us to do something we don't understand, but there's always a blessing included in it. Here, God was in the midst of preparing to bless Simon's socks off [my paraphrase], and also catch Simon's fishing bros, including bros James and John. However, Simon saw going "out in the deep" as just extending his already long night of not catching any fish!

While they were out there fishing in deep water Simon tried to pull up his nets, but they were breaking from all the fish spilling out of them! He called out to nearby fishermen to come with their boats and help pull the bursting nets out of the water! Both boats were overflowing with so many fish, the boats began to sink! Think of that! What? Yes! Simon was so overcome with the abundant blessing of the fish, and in humility told Jesus, "Go away from me, Lord, I am a sinful man!" (v. 6)

Jesus got his attention. Simon and his fishing partners saw Jesus, as the miraculous Gift of God from heaven. They believed in Jesus and became fishers of men. They pulled their boats back up on shore to begin their walk with Jesus!  

"They left everything and followed Him." (Luke 5:11). Jesus caught them in His spiritual net of unconditional love, forgiveness, miracles, and everlasting life; and then released them into the world to tell who He is! And it's still happening today...as His disciples--that's us--go fishing for souls who will follow Him, too!

"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the 

glory of the LORD as the waters cover the sea."

Habakkuk 2:14

For His glory,

Polly💖

"The LORD knows who are His."

 2 Timothy 2:19