Gone Fishing

Today I went fishing with a friend out to Lake Nocona.  We got to some really good fishing spots with his boat - spots that couldn't easily be gotten to from the shoreline.  It was a beautiful lake with trees and hills all around.  My friend Kevin took me to all of his favorite fishing spots, and we did catch a few fish.  Okay, I caught few fish.  I caught one bass total, which is stretching the word "few" quite a bit.  Kevin caught three bass, a crappie, and a bluegill.  Written all down, it sounds like a lot, but we fished for 5 hours. 

If you only knew how much I wanted to catch a fish!  With each cast I just knew that a fish was going to tug my line tight.  Then my lure would be back at the end of my pole and I would cast it back out with hope in my hand.  By the way, I caught the first fish within the first hour.  That means that four hours went by without reeling another one in.  I got a few strikes, but we ended up calling it a day a little after noon.

While casting out my line, I kept thinking about Jesus telling the disciples to not give up fishing.  Once they had already quit for the day, and the other time they were about ready to quit since they had been fishing all night without catching anything with nets.  That's some depressing fishing!  But just like God filled their nets to increase their belief in Him, He had kept their nets empty all that time beforehand. 

They fished in their own efforts and caught nothing.  Then with just a word, Jesus enables them to catch more than they could have imagined.  In the same way, our best efforts to do God's work fall short when they are not through faith.  Yes they got tons of fish, but it wasn't so that they could have fish.  It was so they could see that they needed Jesus.  Jesus wanted their trust and relationship.  He gave us a light and easy yoke, much better than the burden we carried when a slave of sin.  He bought us with His grace.  Let's thank Him for taking the pressure off when it comes to catching fish, whether they be our big dreams in life or just a simple fish hanging from the end of a string.  We catch something better when we accept what He gives us willing.  We get closer to Jesus.