Cast Your Nets, Repeat

4 "When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.”

5 But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at Your word I will let down the net.” 6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking." Luke 5:4-6

Don't you love it when God gives you just the right scripture you need at just the right time? For me, this was it today. I've been leading the Men's Ministry at church this year and our current venture is getting to Men's Camp. We're trying to raise enough money for 15-20 guys to go, most of whom are either not working or barely working, or are working but are broke just because of the economy being the way it is right now. So far we've had a car wash and an ice cream sale and made about $140. Not too promising. I also applied for a grant from a certain retailer. No word. Looking at the calendar, our Saturdays are filling up with other things and our time is short. Looking at our circumstances, it doesn't look too good. I began to wonder what the problem was. Why is it so hard to raise money? Doesn't God want our men to go to camp? We're working, we're willing to work, but it just seems like we couldn't sell a cold bottle of water in the middle of the desert. 

I've been reading through Luke. I just happened to be on chapter 5 today. Here, Jesus sees Peter again, along with Andrew, James and John. They've just come back from fishing all night long, because that's the "best time" to catch fish. Exhausted and frustrated, these men come back to shore wanting nothing, I'm sure, but to go home and collapse. Maybe they were even dreading the looks in their family's eyes when they see them come home empty-handed again. And here comes Jesus. "Mind if I borrow your boat?" I would imagine that they weren't really in the mood to have church at that moment. But, they indulge him and hear the message of the parable of the four soils in Mark 4. Following that, he returns to Peter. "Let's go fishing." The second to the last thing they wanted to do. But again, they indulge him. "If you say so." The result is astonishing. 

6 And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking.7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink.  

I know the apostles were feeling what many Americans are feelings right now: I've been fishing all night and caught nothing. I've tried everything and nothing works. I've sent hundreds of applications and resumes, I've started a work-at-home business, I've gone back to school, I've done everything I can think of to get a job. I've called all my customers and they just aren't ordering. Or, I've tried everything I can to fund our activities at church, like Men's Camp, and I can't even sell an ice cream cone on the hottest day of summer. What's going on? 


I'll spare us, for now, my theories on why I think we're in a recession, who's fault it it, etc. In truth, the how and why doesn't matter. Because the only thing that matters is God. Here's what I find in this scripture. 


1. God cares about our business, our work, our livelihood. Jesus didn't just come along and say, "Come be saved from your sins," which would have been enough. But he filled their nets. A miraculous, yet practical and tangible way of meeting their needs. 
2. He made them do their part. He could have made those fish jump into the boats. He could have taken one fish and multiplied it (which he will do later), but he didn't do that yet. He made them do their part, take a step of faith and cast their nets. 
3. He blessed their socks off! He didn't just give them enough, he loaded their boats to the point that they were sinking. Pressed down, shaken, and running over was poured into their nets. 
4. It came in his time. He didn't do it the day before, or the day after, he did it right when it was prudent and necessary. 


God's providence requires faith and work. God does his part and we do ours. If we cast our nets, he will fill them when the time is right. Not a moment too late or too soon, but according to his perfect will. If you're tired of pulling in empty nets, let Jesus sail your boat for a while, and keep casting your nets. And when they come in empty, cast them again. Today could be the day!

Am I Good Enough?

"Take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." I Kings 19:4


One of my all time favorite comedies, still to this day, is City Slickers. In this movie, three almost-middle-age guys join a cattle drive in an attempt to "straighten the knots in their ropes" and kill their demons. We have Mitch, played by Billy Crystal, who is struggling with age and finding meaning as he approaches mid-life; Phil, played by Daniel Stern, is recovering from a broken marriage after years of living with an unloving wife and having had an affair with a young girl; and Ed, play by Bruno Kirby, who is struggling with something I think a lot of us deal with--whether or not he is better than his father, who abandoned him and his family when he was 14 years old.


He's now the owner of a successful sporting goods store who is married to a gorgeous, young underwear model. Sounds great, right? Except he's scared to death because his beautiful, young wife wants to have kids and Ed's afraid that he'll be just like his father all over again, a cheater and a scoundrel. It's a commitment thing. 


After the trail boss (Jack Palance) suddenly dies and the two trail hands abandon them, the group is faced with a choice: leave the herd and go for help or continue to drive the herd to Colorado. Ed, driven by his need to prove he can stick with something, decides to drive the herd himself. Phil goes with him and, of course, Mitch eventually follows and the three of them save the day and drive the herd to Colorado. After that, Ed is confident that we will be able to stick with it and decides to go home and tell his wife he's ready to have children. It's amazing some of the things we do to prove we are better than our ancestors.


I think Elijah, like many of us, wrestled with the same question Ed did: Am I any better? Better than my ancestors, who made and worshipped a golden calf right after God just led them out of Egypt, who grumbled in the desert, who kept going back to idol worship over and over again, who God often referred to as an adulterous nation? He himself seems to be falling into the same pattern when, after just having slaughtered the 400 prophets of Baal, he now finds himself running and hiding in a cave because of one woman named Jezebel. Exhausted, frustrated and weary, he collapses under a broom tree and says, "I have had enough, LORD, take my life; I am no better than my ancestors." I'm no better. 


It appears that even the great Elijah had a few issues of his own. I must confess I have felt the same way, when I see so many bad examples of what not to do as a Christian being splashed across news pages. "Where are the men of God?" I wonder. "Someone's got to show this world that it can be done, that a righteous life is possible, that there's someone out there who's serious about this, who's real, who's genuine." I have even found myself comparing myself to Elijah and wondering, "Why not now, Lord? Why not me? Why doesn't this happen now?" (btw...This isn't just good old-fashioned Pentecostal talk, check out Spurgeon's comments here). I have even found myself thinking, "I'm gonna do it, I'm gonna be the one, I'll show 'em!" But who does that glorify, myself or God? And then I think, "No, can't be me, I'm too _____, I struggle with _____, I'm not _____ enough."


Who are we trying to please or impress, anyway, and by what standard are we to be measured? The only person we have to please is Christ, and his is the only standard by which to be measured. To aim for simply being better than anyone else is actually to aim for a lower standard than his and to judge our neighbor in the process. We dare not judge another, like the pharisee in Luke 18:11, by trying to be better than them. Let's start, rather, by beating on our breasts with the heart of the sinful tax collector who said, "God, have mercy on me, a sinner." Let's fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who will complete the good work he began in us, and run in such as way as to get the prize. What he starts, he always finishes. So be patient and have mercy on yourself, as God did with Elijah. God's not finished with you...yet.

"He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:6

What's With the Snake?

"The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole. Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived." Num 21:8-9


I have to admit, this scripture has always puzzled me. Some quick background. Moses is leading the Israelites across the desert after having delivered them from Egypt. When the Israelites start to get hungry and thirsty, rather than ask the Lord for their needs, they decide instead to grumble against Moses, and his status quickly diminishes from hero to weirdo. "Why have you brought us to the desert, Moses? To die of starvation and thirst? Did you have an "exit plan" in mind?" So God, hearing their sinful grumbling, sends snakes among them. People are bitten and some even die. The people come to Moses again, with a different attitude, of course. "We sinned, please do something." So, being the man of God that he is, Moses goes to God with the problem and God offers an interesting solution, one of the most unique in all of scripture: 


"The LORD said to Moses, "Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live." v.8.


A snake? Isn't Satan the snake? He's described as such in Genesis and Revelation. Even aside from that, scripture does not describe snakes in the best light:


They will lick dust like a snake, like creatures that crawl on the ground. Micah 7:17
"Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead? Luke 11:11


Yet in John 3, Jesus actually compares himself to the bronze snake:
"Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life," vv. 14-15 (Jesus speaking).


Why would both Jesus and the devil be equated with a snake? This perplexed me. So I ran the events over in my head again. The people grumble...God sends snakes...snakes bite...then God says, "Make a snake." So the same thing that hurt them is the same thing that they look to for healing? I didn't get it, it took some meditation but suddenly it hit me. The one who bites is the same one who heals. Bites, heals. Here's what I think it means. 


Jesus is our judge and our savior, the one who was lifted up on the cross for our sins and the one who will judge us on the last day. He is also the one who convicts us of our sins. Consider these two scriptures:


"...he has given him authority to judge because he is the Son of Man." John 5:26-27. 


"Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father?" Heb 12:7.


Along with this one:
"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Heb 12:11


The snakes were sent to convict the Israelites of their sin. Jesus, who is both the righteous judge and the healer, "bites" us, to show us those areas that need to be healed. It's not pleasant, but it's a love-bite. The one who convicts (bites) us, is the same one to whom we look for healing, and that's why he bites in the first place. When we are bitten, we need to remember why. It's always for our good. He bites those parts of us that need to be amputated. 


Better to enter eternity with a snake bite than be thrown into Hell. 


What do you think?