Launch Out Into The Deep

“When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” (Luke 5:4)

Do you feel like you are facing some deep water in your life? 

There is an element of the unknown in your journey. You just don't know what's going to happen. "How is this all going to work out?"

I think most everyone I know, in one way or another, feels the same way.

If we look only at our difficult circumstances, and lament, "Oh no, this is it!" we'd likely want to curl up in bed, and not come out again.

But the trials that we are all facing today are not the end of the story—just a necessary part of it.

Rejoice in your trials.  They're part of your Story.

I had the opportunity a couple of years ago, to spend the morning with about twenty guys who were all going through various trials in their lives. One man shared a very moving story of a friend who lost his job some time ago, and more recently, lost his house.  But the man went on to say that his friend said:

"I'm glad I lost my house!  Now, my life and my happiness are no longer tied to my material possessions."

Who among us could truly say that?  I'd like to think that, were it to come to that, I could, by faith, make that same proclamation.  But could I really?  I pray it doesn't ever come to that.

Walking by faith doesn't mean you check your brain at the door, and plow blindly ahead without thinking.  But many times, what God calls us to do is counterintuitive to our way of thinking. God said, 

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, and My ways are not your ways."

Oswald Chambers wrote, in "My Utmost For His Highest" (June 8):

"If you yourself do not cut the lines that tie you to the dock, God will have to use a storm to sever them and to send you out to sea. Put everything in your life afloat upon God, going out to sea on the great swelling tide of His purpose, and your eyes will be opened. If you believe in Jesus, you are not to spend all your time in the calm waters just inside the harbor, full of joy, but always tied to the dock. You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself—begin to have spiritual discernment."

Reading that, I thought of how often I do this—play it safe—neatly secured in the safe harbor of my comfort zones, not willing to cut the lines that keep me there. 

But then, how often, does a storm seem to mysteriously appear in my life, severing those safety lines, and send me out into some kind of raging tempest where I absolutely need to trust fully in God to get me through?

Often enough it seems.   

Further contemplating Chambers devotional this morning, I was reminded of Jesus on the Sea of Galilee, who had previously called a few men to leave all and follow Him and be His disciples, even though it was counterintuitive to what they knew and understood. Jesus had an amazing way of demonstrating that He is not bound by our limited wisdom and understanding, and that when we obey His word and trust Him, we will see God's power operating in our lives. 

"So it was, as the multitude pressed about Him to hear the word of God, that He stood by the Sea of Galilee, and saw two boats standing by the lake; but the fishermen had gone from them and were washing their nets. Then He got into one of the boats, which was Simon’s, and asked him to put out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the multitudes from the boat. When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” 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.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking." (Matthew 5:1-7)

How willing are we to launch out into the unknown—into the deep—where we have to fully trust God?

Peter and his fishing buddies toiled all night, and they caught nothing.  But once Jesus directed them to launch out into the deep, going beyond where they were accustomed, beyond their comfort zone, and then let down their nets, trusting in Him, they caught so many fish that their nets were bursting at the seams.

When we take that step of faith to hear and obey the voice of Jesus—no matter how counterintuitive it may seem to us at the time to do so—God will supply all that is needed, and often beyond our wildest expectations. 

But you have to take that step of faith first.

You can't walk on water until you step out of the boat, and then only as Jesus calls you to do so. You can't harvest a catch so full that your nets are filled to the bursting point, until you first hear the call of Jesus, and then launch out into the deep and let down your nets at His command.

Yes, it's counterintuitive. Most of the time, it won't make sense. 

But don't you think that's what Peter must also have thought when Jesus told him to let down his nets in deep water?  Isn't that most certainly what he must have thought when Jesus bid him to step out of the boat and walk to Him on the raging water in the stormy sea?

Again, quoting Chambers:

"You have to get out past the harbor into the great depths of God, and begin to know things for yourself—begin to have spiritual discernment."

It's easy to stay in the harbor; in safe waters. But you really have to trust God with your life when you venture into the deep waters of the unfamiliar and the unknown.

It's a matter of faith.

—God is Love and Love Never Fails.