Priscilla Shirer
March 23, 2014 - W1412

Being a mother of three boys Jackson, Jerry Jr. and Jude, I am always looking for ways to occupy their time so the day moves faster than yesterday. So I am thankful that we live in a part of rural Dallas where we have a big yard with a lot of trees, dirt and bugs. We also have a neighbor across the street with a pond where I can take them fishing. At the neighbor’s pond we can catch fish within the first 5-6 minutes. It’s great, and I thought the boys really enjoyed fishing. However, one day at a church camp, I took the boys fishing at the camp site pond and we didn’t catch anything. Pretty soon I found myself alone because my boys had gone off to do other things. I called after the boys, and one of them said to me, “Fishing isn’t supposed to be that hard.” I thought about that for a few minutes. Every fishing trip has a certain amount of energy, time and money put into it. There is money spent to buy the equipment and supplies needed to fish, energy used to pack everything up and time to endure to catch fish. So one would think with all of that, there should be some kind of return on all that investment.

I am sure there are many of you who feel the same way about your life. There is an assignment God sent you on and you have invested a lot of time, emotions or money into that relationship, that ministry or business and you have come up empty-handed. You are probably thinking the same thing my little boy said “Fishing isn’t supposed to be that hard.” And I’m sure you thought that if you say “Yes” to God that you weren’t a Christian by name only but that you were going to go where He said “go” and do what He said “do” and that you would surrender your life to Him. But instead you find yourself discouraged and disappointed for not being successful and for coming up short of all that you invested in.

Now we are going to look in the Bible at a man named Simon who all too well knew what you are going through. Please open your Bibles to Luke 5 starting with verse 1. We are going to read about a fisherman who fished all night long into the early hours of the next day and came up empty-handed.

(Luke 5:1-8 NASB) “Now it happened that while the multitude was pressing around Him and listening to the Word of God, He was standing by the lake of Gennesaret; and He saw two boats lying at the edge of the lake; but the fishermen had gotten out of them and were washing their nets.”

Now let’s stop here at these two verses. We read here that Jesus comes to the shores of the Sea of Galilee with a multitude of people pressing in on Him. He sees two empty boats and sees the fishermen washing their nets. Later in scripture it will also say that Simon fished all night long and with all his time and energy spent, caught absolutely nothing.

The writer of this passage, Luke, wants us to see that there weren’t just 10 or twenty people gathering around Jesus that morning but that there were maybe thousands pressing in on Jesus. They all wanted to get in as close to Jesus as they possibly could. These people weren’t yet aware that Jesus was the Messiah but they knew that wherever Jesus went, the blind could see, the deaf could hear and the dead rose from the grave. So these people came and crowded around this man forcing their way closer to Him with their own needs reaching out to be healed. They were a loud, rude group of people just trying to get from Jesus all that they could. But in spite of all that chaos and noise and clamoring, verse two says He sees that one guy, Simon, who just had a bad night. Now what is it saying here? It tells you, that no matter how big those crowds are, no matter how many issues that Jesus has to deal with, He sees you. You may feel that no one else sees you and that no one cares about all you’re going through or all that you invested into this situation. But, it doesn’t matter because God sees you. You are never alone in a crowd, you serve a God who sees and cares about you, about us. You know that God doesn’t need you, right? But God chooses to engage His time and love with you just like He saw and did with Simon.

I was watching a special report on the news one day about religions of the world. That day they were talking about Buddhism. The reporter and her crew stood in front of a giant Buddha in Hong Kong and they boasted about how so many pilgrims of this faith would save up the money of a lifetime to come here to climb 268 steps just to worship and pray to this statue. They have to spend a lot of money to rigorously climb up to their god to pray to him. However, we have a God that comes down to our level to talk to us regardless of all the chaos and demands that surround Him.

Luke describes this story about Simon so vividly and detailed because it says here that when Jesus came to the shore, Simon has already gotten out of his boat, he has abandoned that situation gone bad by leaving the object that was a part of the frustration and disappointment from an empty night, and he was washing his net. Now if you are a fisherman you know that when you are washing your net it means that you were done fishing for the night. Simon was done and Jesus saw that.

Now I’ve read and searched many theories about this passage. I’ve read that Simon was criticized for abandoning the fishing that night. Some said that he shouldn’t have given up so soon, that he should not have abandoned this fishing expedition and that he should have fished some more. But through all that criticism, we find one person who does not accuse or criticize him and that is Jesus. I know for a fact that if I were fishing that night and caught nothing, I would not be washing my nets, I’d be trying to get rid of them, but Jesus saw that Simon was washing his nets. This means that Simon hadn’t given up entirely and Jesus saw that.

Do you know the reason you go to church every Sunday or go to that Bible study every week? It is because you are coming to get encouragement. You come even though you have abandoned all that has caused your hurts and frustrations. You may be washing your nets, but you haven’t given up, you just need to come to be refreshed. That’s why accountability to others and being with believers who help “wash your nets” are needed. They, along with Jesus, can help you to overcome those discouragements and disappointments to cause you to continue your journey in life. So with Simon, he is washing his nets, yes, but Jesus does not scold him or criticize him. He just sees him and has compassion for him. Now in Verse 3 it says:

“And He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little way from the land. And He sat down and began teaching the multitude from the boat.”

In Bible study you know that when something is repeated or emphasized in a short span of words that you need to take note of it. There is something of importance that you need to be aware of so pay close attention to it. What is important in this passage is that in verse 2 Simon got out of the boat but in verse 3 Jesus got into that boat. The very thing that Simon got out of and abandoned because it brought so much frustration and disappointment was the very thing that Jesus got into and used to bring a word of encouragement to the thousands of people on the shore.

So we see here that God will often use that which brought us despair and turn it around and use it from which to preach the Word of God. This is because that mess you are in will be His greatest message. He will turn that portion of your life, that platform and use it to encourage you and the multitude around Him. There are people who need to see that transformation has occurred in your life when Jesus became a part of it so that they can see what a great and powerful God He truly is. Through this they will see how sovereign God is. Sovereignty means that He was there before the beginning of time. It also means that He has everything under His control. Having everything under His control means for you to “be still (relax, be conformed to, be at peace) and know that I am God.” (Psalm 46:10) In His sovereignty He knows everything that has happened and will happen because He is in control of every situation. He is not surprised about anything that took place days or months or years ago. He already knows because He is in control of it all.

So He knew about Simon fishing all night long and reaping nothing and He knew that in the morning He would find a platform upon which He would use to talk to the multitude. So in His sovereignty He allowed the emptiness so that He would have a place to plant His feet and preach the Word of God for the multitudes to hear. Think about this, if Simon’s boat was filled with flopping fish there wouldn’t be room for Jesus to step into the boat so you see Jesus allowed the emptiness so that there would be room for Him. God wants to be in our lives, He wants us to need Him. So sometimes He will allow the emptiness so that we need to rely on Him to transform it into something useful. Like a master chef He is able to create a delicious dish out of what He has on hand. He will season it with the Holy Spirit. He will put us into that fire to cleanse us, but He will always be close by with a watchful eye and He will not keep us in there a moment longer than necessary. Then He will transform us into the creation He intends to share with the world so they can see God in His most sovereign state.

Now we continue in verse 4:

“When He had finished speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.’ Simon answered and said, ‘Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You say and let down the nets.’ When they had done this, they enclosed a great quantity of fish, and their nets began to break; so they signaled to their partners in the other boat for them to come and help them. And they came and filled both of the boats, so that they began to sink…”

Now that’s a lot of fish. Please note something, what Jesus told Simon to do, is contrary to what usually is done. For instance, in the Sea of Galilee, the fishermen are taught to fish in shallow water and the fishermen usually fish at night. After Jesus spoke to the people it was already high noon. Then Jesus told Simon to pull out to the deep waters in the peak of the day, and contrary to his own belief, Simon obeyed. Usually, we as Christians try to rationalize everything God tells us to do and oftentimes we rationalize ourselves out of our obedience to Him. But Simon, without hesitation, obeyed even though it contradicted his own experience.

I like shallow water because I can still stand up in shallow water, but deep water means I am well in over my head. This means being in that risky part of faith. That’s where Jesus wants us to be, because then we need a Savior to get us out of that deep water. Think about this, the shallow water is where Jesus taught everyone else, the deep water is where He took Simon because He had something more for Simon to do. That’s the same for us. He takes us out to the deep water where we need to rely on Him because He has something even bigger for us to see and do with Him. I know I would rather be in deep water with Jesus than to be in shallow water trying to do it on my own.

So Simon pulls out to the deep and miraculously there was a multitude of fish as Simon cast out his nets. Jesus could have easily said “Fish get into the boat” but He wanted to involve Simon in the actual experience in catching the fish. God will do that for us too because He wants us to experience each step of faith with Him. God will put things within our reach, not into our hands, so that we have to reach out and do our part. So Simon does as Jesus asked, he cast out his nets and he is overwhelmed by all the fish he has caught. Luke wrote about this moment in this way, he says that Simon signaled to the others. He didn’t shout. This is probably because Simon was in awe over what just happened and he was stunned speechless.

I am sure you have an abandoned platform and feel useless. You wonder if God can ever use this messed up situation and you feel like you are in deep water that is way over your head. Let me encourage you into believing that God is probably setting you up to stun you into being totally speechless in what He has prepared for you. So go with God into the deep waters of faith and be prepared to experience something of God that will “blow your mind”. It will stun you and all you can do is signal to your friends to come see all that has been done because Jesus is in the boat with you. Be comforted, because He sees you and He will use that part of your life you feel is useless and turn it around to magnify His name through you.

Study Suggestions

For what has God prepared you, through your problems?

What should you do when the waters of discouragement rise over your head?

What have you abandoned because you feel you have failed?

When God sends you out to do something and you feel discouraged, where do you go? Who do you turn to?

What has God done in the past to stun you speechless?

With God in your life, what should you expect to happen in your life?