O For A Thousand Tongues To Sing / Charles Wesley
O for a thousand tongues to sing
My great Redeemer’s praise,
The glories of my God and King,
The triumphs of His grace!
My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread through all the earth abroad
The honors of Thy name…
Do you ever have mornings where you just can’t seem to get going? I’m having one of those mornings today when it is slow going for my brain and my body to get in gear. In my fleshly body, there is no oomph (spirited vigor) in me. My mother always used to say, “My get up and go got up and went.” So, in my flesh, there is nothing this morning to get me motivated or to give me the strength that I need for the tasks before me. I need the strength of the Lord today spiritually, physically and mentally just to keep moving.
Speak, Lord, through your word to my heart this morning, for your servant is listening. I read John 21:1-14:
Jesus and the Miraculous Catch of FishMy Understanding: Peter and some of the other disciples went fishing at night, but they caught nothing. Their get up and go had gotten up and went. It wasn’t for lack of human effort on their part, though. They were doing their part by going and by casting their nets to catch the fish, but the fish were just not cooperating by jumping into their nets. I got up this morning. I sat down to have my quiet time with the Lord. I took notes on what the passage of scripture said, but it was like someone had pulled the plug and had drained out all my energy of body and mind. I just wasn’t catching any fish with my net.
1 Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: 2 Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. 3 “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing.
4 Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.
5 He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?”
“No,” they answered.
6 He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish.
7 Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. 8 The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. 9 When they landed, they saw a fire of burning coals there with fish on it, and some bread.
10 Jesus said to them, “Bring some of the fish you have just caught.”
11 Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn. 12 Jesus said to them, “Come and have breakfast.” None of the disciples dared ask him, “Who are you?” They knew it was the Lord. 13 Jesus came, took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. 14 This was now the third time Jesus appeared to his disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Then, the scripture records that “Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus.” This is very significant here! The disciples were fishing at night, obviously normally a good time to catch fish or they wouldn’t have been out there fishing, yet they were unsuccessful. I am certain they must have been discouraged, tired after the long night of work, with no visible results, and they were focused in on their physical circumstances of no fish for their work.
Sometimes the meaning of night can be the times in our lives when things don’t make sense to us, when our thinking is clouded, when our circumstances seem bleak, when all appears lost even though we have exhausted great effort, and yet we persist and we persevere even in those times when we can’t see Jesus working in our lives, and we do this out of faith. Faith is the evidence of things hoped for and not yet seen. The disciples worked even though they didn’t see visible results for their efforts.
But then the morning came. Morning, the opposite of night, brings with it light on the subject. It is the dawning of a new day – a new hope; a new beginning. The Bible records that “Sorrow may last for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” I think that was the disciples experience here, too. Yet, even though Jesus was clearly present and was standing on the shore (involved in their circumstances), they did not realize it was him. I think that is often true of us, too. We don’t realize that, even when we can’t see Jesus working or we can’t see the physical results for our labors, that he is there and he is very much involved in our lives and that he will provide all that we need when we need it. We just have to trust him.
Jesus called out to the disciples, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. It was obvious to both Jesus and to the disciples that they had not caught any fish, so why did Jesus ask them? He asked them because he first of all wanted them to recognize that they were not able to produce the results through human effort. They needed Jesus! They had to first of all recognize that they could not do it in their own strength. I fully realized that this morning as there was literally nothing in me - in my flesh - that could assist me in sitting down to write anything this morning. I had to be totally and completely reliant upon my Lord to supply all that I needed. And, I believe that is where Jesus wanted his disciples, too – fully aware of their need of him, and then he could work the miracle in their lives.
So, in their own human efforts, they caught nothing. They acknowledged to God that they were not able to produce anything by their human effort even though they had worked all night. This is where Jesus does his best stuff, when we come to that realization that we can’t do it without him. So, Jesus told them where to throw their nets. When they did what he said, they were able to haul in a large number of fish. For them, the results were immediate. That is not always the case. Sometimes when we are fully obeying the Lord in his strength and he is the one leading and guiding, we still may not see the results immediately, but that does not mean nothing is happening or that He is not in it. It just means the morning hasn’t arrived yet when the full catch of fish will be realized.
When Peter and some of the other disciples did what Jesus said and they caught so many fish their nets were completely full, then their eyes were opened and they were able to see that it was the Lord. Sometimes we don’t see the Lord working in our circumstances, but it doesn’t mean he isn’t there working. And, often it takes a miracle of God for our eyes to be opened to the realization that he was there all along, but we just didn’t recognize him, perhaps because we weren’t seeing the results of our labors in the Lord. That is why the Bible teaches perseverance. It would be easy to persevere if we caught large amounts of fish each time we threw out our nets. We must persevere, because we know that faith that is seen is not faith, but if we hope for what we cannot yet see, that is true faith.
When Peter realized that it was the Lord, he jumped into the water near the shore and he went to Jesus. The rest of the disciples who were fishing with Peter followed him with fish in tow. When Jesus opens our eyes to see that he is standing on the shores of our lives, that he is very much involved and cares deeply for what we are going through, we should want to run to him. Psalm 42:1 says, “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God.” That is how I see Peter’s enthusiasm at realizing that it was the Lord. He longed for Jesus and when he saw him, he ran to meet him. That is the kind of relationship we should have with Jesus, too, that we pant for him and when he reveals himself to us that we run to see him and to hear what he has to say to us each and every day of our lives.
The other disciples followed… Our lives are the best testimony we have for Jesus. When other people see that Jesus makes a difference in our lives and they see that we “pant” for Jesus and that we are running to him to embrace him, to be with him, to listen to him, to sit at his feet, to fellowship with him daily, this will serve as a testimony to others as to the kind of relationship that they, too, can have with Jesus. Not only that, but they brought the fish in tow. This is called the domino effect. Our lives serve as a testimony to others who then follow in suit and follow the Lord and then they lead others to also follow the Lord.
The end result was that they shared in a meal with the Lord and he fed them. This is the ultimate end of our following Jesus, too, and that is to be in intimate fellowship with him where we feed on his every word that he gives to us. Yet, it doesn’t stop there. Or, let me say, it should not stop there. If all we do is eat but our bodies never give anything out, we will get ill and will suffer greatly from all kinds of internal problems. The same is true of our spiritual lives. We are not supposed to just sit at Jesus feet and let him feed us, but we are to give out to others what he gives to us. Jesus told his disciples early on that he would make them “fishers of men.” The “fish” that we are to catch are people and the “net” that we cast out is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And, we need to leave the results to Jesus.
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus / Helen H. Lemmel
O soul, are you weary and troubled?
No light in the darkness you see?
There’s light for a look at the Savior,
And life more abundant and free!
Through death into life everlasting
He passed, and we follow Him there;
O’er us sin no more hath dominion—
For more than conquerors we are!
His Word shall not fail you—He promised;
Believe Him, and all will be well:
Then go to a world that is dying,
His perfect salvation to tell!
Turn your eyes upon Jesus,
Look full in His wonderful face,
And the things of earth will grow strangely dim,
In the light of His glory and grace.
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