Fishing for Faith

“Lord, even though our nets our empty, we pray that you send us out again so that they may be filled”

These are the words that my father prayed tonight in just leaving to God the responsibilities and troubles currently facing him and our family. My mind seized on them primarily because I often ask God for his will to be done in a tangible and abundant way here on earth. Naturally my dad was inspired by the story of Jesus’ disciples – who were fishing all night long, catching nothing and facing immediate financial and emotional distress. In this economy I think we can especially relate – knowing and experiencing joblessness, overall lack and a future whose stability is in doubt.

I think the significance of this story found in John 21 is profound. Standing on the shore to help them was Jesus and the wearied and heavy eyed disciples obeyed the call of the man who was at the time, a stranger after they had fished all night – “Cast your net to the other side.” And behold, they caught a great multitude of fish in one moment that they could not do by their own striving the entire night. This miracle happened shortly after Christ’s crucifixion, the time in which the disciples felt completely abandoned by Christ and their God. And yet, there he was on the shore, willing to provide for their immediate need to remind them that He is their eternal desire.

We are going to be praying a lot and always in need of a lot of prayer. That is the nature of our lives – Christ even instructed his disciples to pray each day and to ask for their “daily bread” showing that God is well aware of our needs, wants and desires.

As humans I often do two things wrong however – fail to understand and fail to remember.
Fail to understand – Have you ever been in a situation where you think God did not answer your prayer or answered it completely opposite? Only to realize years later, that what God did then was the best result or answer possible? That you grew or were blessed in ways you could not anticipate or imagine because of that?

Fail to remember – If there was one thing God wants his people to do (outside of love and obey him) it is to remember everything He has done for us – all of it good, even when we were disciplined. If someone very close to you did not remember your birthdays, anniversaries and achievements, and did not even remember to talk to you; especially after you’ve done many great things for them, you would feel unimportant to them in the very least. How much more so God? It is in remembering God’s faithfulness to us that we can build faith in Him and maintain a right relationship.