Go Deep
[Jesus] said to Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” – Luke 5:4 (NRSV)
Imagine what a professional fisherman would think if a carpenter climbed into their boat and dispensed unsolicited advice on fishing: “To find the big fish you have to go deep!”
It’s an overlooked miracle that a hothead like Peter let Jesus stay in his boat that day. Had he not, he would have missed a life-changing demonstration of abundance.
Have you ever presumed to know more about abundance than God? I have. At least once a day I say to God through my thoughts and actions: “I know more about life and the way things work than you do, God! Get off my back and get out of my boat!”
Seriously. I’m that unspiritual.
Unspiritual and unworthy is what Peter confessed to be right after Jesus helped him catch more fish than he dreamed possible. You’d think Peter would have signed Jesus up as a business partner. Instead, Peter begged Jesus to stay away from the likes of him. Jesus ignored that request and deepened Peter’s job into a bottomless vocation: to become a fisher of people.
Maybe what we are most afraid of is not scarcity but abundance. The scarcity of the shallows isn’t deeply fulfilling but it’s familiar. At least there, we can see the bottom.
Prayer
You offer more blessing than I think I deserve or can handle. Ignore my reluctance and push me into an ocean of bottomless love.
About the AuthorMatt Laney is co-Pastor of Virginia Highland Church UCC in Atlanta, GA and the author of Pride Wars, a fantasy series published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt for Young Readers. The first two books, The Spinner Prince and The Four Guardians are available now.