Tuesday, March 29,
2016, 3:39 a.m. – The Lord Jesus put in mind the song, “Voice of Truth.” Speak, Lord, your words to my heart. I read John 21:1-8 (ESV).
We Caught Nothing
(vv. 1-3)
After
this Jesus revealed himself again to the disciples by the Sea of Tiberias, and
he revealed himself in this way. Simon Peter, Thomas (called the Twin),
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two others of his
disciples were together. Simon Peter said to them, “I am going fishing.” They
said to him, “We will go with you.” They went out and got into the boat, but
that night they caught nothing.
Have you ever been in a situation like this before? I am in
a situation similar to this right now. About a month ago the Lord spoke to me
in the middle of the night and he asked me if I am willing to leave the
comforts of my home to go with God to the regions beyond - to the unknown -
whatever that may mean for me. He asked me if I would truly give it all up to
follow him, i.e. house, land, possessions, and even children and grandchildren,
i.e. to leave them all behind. He asked me, “If I say to walk away from it all,
will you?” He asked me if I would follow him wherever he led me. I said, “YES!”
That was in the middle of the night.
In the morning my husband told me that he wanted to retire
this year, and that he believed we were to move back to Ohio (where we
originally came from), from South Carolina (where we presently live). We left
Ohio 34 years ago (1982). We have lived in our present location 20 years. My
husband said that he believes he is supposed to move back to Ohio to care for
his aging parents (father, step-mother, and mother). I prayed about it and the
Lord immediately told me to “Go!” So, we made the decision together to leave
all our children and grandchildren (all 21 of them) behind in South Carolina
and to move back to Ohio.
We then began to make preparations for the move. We even
drove 500 miles to Ohio to look at possible apartments where we would live.
While we were there, the Lord impressed upon our hearts the urgency of us getting
up there, as the need is great, not just for his parents, but that the fields
are ripe for harvest (Jn. 4:35). We could see the hand of the Lord in how
everything was falling into place, one situation after another after another.
And, then we hit a “bump in the road,” i.e. a seeming setback.
We are selling our house by owner, and we have a buyer, so
we need to secure an attorney to help us write a sales contract, who will also
handle the real estate closing for us. I have called multiple attorney offices,
but so far we have not had one call us back so that we can set up an
appointment to write the sales contract, so we can set a closing date and a
move-in date in Ohio. So, yesterday I was feeling discouraged about all this.
We can’t move forward without the sales contract and an attorney, so I was
praying about what to do next. In other words, I went fishing for an attorney
but I wasn’t catching any “fish.”
In The Morning (vv.
4-8)
Just
as day was breaking, Jesus stood on the shore; yet the disciples did not know
that it was Jesus. Jesus said to them, “Children, do you have any fish?” They
answered him, “No.” He said to them, “Cast the net on the right side of the
boat, and you will find some.” So they cast it, and now they were not able to
haul it in, because of the quantity of fish. That disciple whom Jesus loved
therefore said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” When Simon Peter heard that it was
the Lord, he put on his outer garment, for he was stripped for work, and threw
himself into the sea. The other disciples came in the boat, dragging the net
full of fish, for they were not far from the land, but about a hundred yards
off.
Last night, as I was feeling discouraged, and I didn’t know
what my next step should be, and I was calling on the Lord for his guidance, he
put the song “Voice of Truth” in my mind. I didn’t look up the lyrics last
night, but I remembered the chorus, so I began to pray concerning what message
the Lord had for me through this. Then, this morning, the same song was in my
mind, so I did look up the lyrics. The song begins by talking about the kind of
faith it would take to climb out of the boat we are in onto the crashing waves,
to step out of our comfort zone into the unknown. Well, we have sold many
houses before, but previously we always used a realtor, so it is definitely not
my comfort zone to sell by owner, and to have to secure our own lawyer and to
make certain everything is done that needs to be done for us to close this
house on time, but Jesus is with me, and he will guide my steps.
So, this morning I prayed and asked the Lord what message he
had for me in this. What he spoke to me this morning, I believe, is that I need
to throw my net on the other side of the boat, i.e. I need to not give up, but
I just need to “fish” someplace else. I had been searching on the internet for
lawyers, and then I remembered this morning that we had a phone book, so I got
out the phone book and made a list of the lawyers (nine of them) and their
phone numbers, and my plan, which is God’s plan, I believe, is to go fishing
for a lawyer this morning “on the other side of the boat,” i.e. I am going to
call these lawyers until we get one. And, I am believing God to supply. Maybe
we will get so many that I will have to choose which one, but I believe the
Lord will direct me to the right lawyer for us.
I believe our Lord allows setbacks in our lives sometimes to
test our faith, to see whether we will give up, though he certainly knows this
in advance, or whether we will stand the test, and if we will keep trusting him
even when the waves are crashing all around us. The test is not for God, in
other words, but it is for us, in order to strengthen our resolve to keep on
keeping on in doing whatever God has called us to do, even when we can’t see
how it is all going to turn out, or even when we face those “bumps in the road”
along the way. If we know God has called us, then we have to know that he will
supply all we need. Sometimes delays are not just to test our faith, though,
but they are all about God’s perfect timing. He has a day in mind he wants all
this to come together, and we can’t rush it if God has a different timing. We
will only frustrate ourselves. But, when he says to throw the net on the other
side of the boat, then we need to do that, and trust him to supply all that we
need.
VOICE OF TRUTH / Mark
Hall & Steven Curtis Chapman
II Corinthians 12:7-10/I Corinthians
1:20-24
…But the waves are
calling out my name and they laugh at me
Reminding me of all
the times I’ve tried before and failed
The waves they keep
on telling me
Time and time again,
“Boy, you’ll never win!”
“You’ll never win!”
But the voice of truth tells me a
different story
The voice of truth says, “Do not be
afraid!”
And the voice of truth says, “This is
for My glory”
Out of all the voices calling out to me
I will choose to listen and believe the
voice of truth
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