Give It Up!

There are times that it is difficult to walk with God. You cannot set your pace by the pace other men. You must set your timing by the pace of God Himself. You are walking with the infinte as opposed to the finite. His thoughts are higher than our ways, and his thoughts are above our thoughts. It doesn’t take long until you feel like a little boy with short legs trying to keep up with his daddy. He will challenge our religiosity and our tendency to cleave to normalcy & mediocrity. He will do something that doesn’t fit into your reasoning of what God ought to do.

The disciples were walking with a God they didn’t understand. They were working for, sacrificing for, washing in the creek with a God they didn’t understand. They had given up their jobs & livelihood to follow a King that John the Baptist pointed to after saying "Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand." They had pledged their allegiance to this young ruler who was going to straighten out Caesar. At the height of his ministrial career, He died on a cross. The one who walked on the waters went to the cross. It blew their mind. What should the disciple do when the master is dead. And in 3 days, He rose up. When He rose it perplexed them because it called them preach a gospel that caused them to be criticized. We don’t mind preaching a message from a respected school of thought, but we’re unconfortable declaring a school of thought that makes us sound like heretics.

Jesus had gotten up from the dead. He had walked through a door without touching the doorknob. Spirit enough to walk through the door, flesh enough to eat fish.

Peter did something that every religious leader needs to do, fishing. I GO A FISHING. I am not going to solve anything complicated or complex today, I’m going fishing. I’m out of here. See you, wouldn’t want to be you. I need a moment of introspection, away from all my responsibilities, titles, expectations. I need a moment I can walk down the road and hum a song to myself and let a tear roll down my face without anybody wandering what its for. It doesn’t sound deep or spiritual, I don’t know what it is in the Greek or the Hebrew, but it was anointed.

I can understand why Peter wanted to go fishing, because he was by trade a fisherman. He was familiar with fishing. When life gets complicated, we revert back to what we are comfortable with. I want to go back to a normal, calm place in life. After all he was fishing when he met Jesus. Sometimes when life gets tough, you want to go back to the place where you first received. You don’t want to be reverend so & so or the president of the willing-to-do committees. You want to break down to where you were when you first staggered to the altar and said Lord I believe. I’m going back to simplicity & normalcy. I’m tired of business meetings and church politics, I want to see Jesus like I saw you before I was hurt.

I can understand why Peter wanted to go fishing. But what was odd, here come all these other chumps. What is Matthew the tax collector doing with a fishing rod. What is Luke the physician doing with a net. It is indicative of the time we live in which people want to imitate leaders, whatever they are doing. Don’t be a cheap copy of a great original.

They all went into the Sea of Tiberias, and all night they tried to accomplish something. They should have caught something because they had a master fisherman. They should have had some level of success, if nothing else, based on experience and expertise. But sometimes, God has to show you it is not by might, nor by power. . . You’re not going to be able to work it out on your own. Your street smarts, your budgeting will not get you out. All night long, and nothing.

Somebody here has been through a long, dark, frustrating night. Prolonged depression. Stress and Peril. Not being able to do what you used to do. But in the morning there was Jesus on the bank. In the morning light, when the darkness was moved back, I could see that He was closer than I thought He was. It makes me think, He was there all the time. Through all the frustration of carnal pursuits, He was on the bank. Weeping may endure for the night, but JOY COMETH IN THE MORNING. It is morning. Forget those things which are behind, it is morning. A new day has dawned for you.