Oceans in the Desert

By Kathi Pelton

There are times in all of our lives when it just seems that all that your working for and reaching for come up empty.

The disciples understood this situation and they were quite frustrated and tired. They had been fishing all night without any success. Then when they were giving up and coming back to shore, Jesus appears and tells them to throw their nets on the other side of the boat.

I can only imagine what they were thinking! “How is that going to help? We’re exhausted. We’re done!” But, Jesus persisted in his request, “Throw out your nets once again, but on the other side.”

Some of you may be feeling like his disciples on that day. You’ve worked hard and tirelessly— you’re tired, frustrated and just “done”.

You’re about to abandon any attempt to continue trying but I see Jesus coming upon the shore of your life and he is shouting to you, “Throw your net on the other side!”

For the disciples, the act of putting their nets out again— with only a slight shift in what they’d already been doing— was their way of honoring and showing respect for Jesus. Most likely they didn’t have any belief that it would actually make a difference. But, the miracle came as a result of hearing his voice and responding— even when they had no hope for a different outcome.

What is the Lord asking you to respond to even if you have no hope of a different outcome? The miracle wasn’t because the other side of the boat was more strategic, it was to show them that listening and responding to his voice opened the way for the biggest catch they’d ever had or witnessed.

Is God asking you to try one more time with just a slight difference in how you’ve been doing things? Is your miracle going to happen after you’ve exhausted every effort to get the results you need and hoped for?

For many of you, the Lord is standing on the shore of your life and has an opportunity for you to receive your miracle— what is he asking you to do?

What do you have to lose? What did the disciples have to lose? The worst that could happen was that nothing would change but beyond that outcome they had everything to gain.

It reminds me of the cartoon of the miner and his pick axe chipping away at the cave wall to find gold but in his discouragement and weariness, he gives up right before he gets to the gold. What if your just one swing away from striking gold? From receiving your miracle?

If the fisherman had ignored the voice of Jesus they would have never experienced the miracle planned for them. They would have left empty handed— but instead they not only left with more than they could “ask or imagine”, they also left with great joy, renewed faith and a miracle that they could only attribute to the glory of the Lord.

Psalm 126,

When the LORD restored the captives of Zion, we were like dreamers. Then our mouths were filled with laughter, our tongues with shouts of joy.

Then it was said among the nations,
“The LORD has done great things for them.”

The LORD has done great things for us;
we are filled with joy. Restore our captives, O LORD, like streams in the Negev.

Those who sow in tears will reap with shouts of joy. He who goes out weeping,
bearing a trail of seed, will surely return with shouts of joy, carrying sheaves of grain.

End—

You have sown in tears but will reap with shouts of joy, carrying the promise within your arms! Your tears are not wasted but seeds that will make way for your miracle harvest.

The Lord himself will do it and you will shout, “The Lord has done great things for me!”

It’s time to throw out your net one more time!

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