Obey: Deep Waters

By +Jeanne Takenaka @JeanneTakenaka

“Cast your net into the deep water.” ~Brooke McGlothlin    

How many times have you tried to accomplish something, like Peter fishing all night, and come to the end of your striving with nothing to show for your efforts?

Except perhaps frustration, a sense of failure and discouragement?

Yah, I’ve been there. Striving for something, working to accomplish that one thing that simply needed doing. And I’ve been unable to complete it.

By the time I get to that point, I’m ready to throw in the proverbial towel, give up, go make popcorn and escape into a movie for awhile.

But God . . . 

Sometimes, He lets us struggle, He lets us lose. Why? Because He has lessons for us to learn in the failing, the falling short.

Sometimes, it’s only as we come to the end of ourselves that we’re able to come into the fulness of who God wants us to be. Or at least take one step closer to walking in that completeness He envisions for us.

When we come to the end of ourselves, we’re weary. But God sometimes says, “Cast your nets into the deep water.”

We have nothing left to offer Him. Even our hands hang with exhaustion at our sides. The thought of rowing out to the deep waters, throwing that net in and then pulling soggy ropes back to the boat overwhelms us. And our hearts? They are asking, “Really?”

It’s only as we choose to put our faith in Jesus’ faithfulness . . .

. . .  as we choose to walk out what He asks us 

. . . and try one more time that we can experience His grace, His gifts for us.

Is it easy to cast our nets into the deep waters? To allow God into those places in our hearts—our lives—where we rarely trod ourselves? No!

But, when we take those first steps in obedience, God honors this. He may shower blessings on us, or He may hold onto them for a little longer. And those blessings, when they come? They may not look exactly the way we expect. 

But God has this amazing way of satisfying us, when we choose to walk in HIm. When we choose to be brave and set out in our boats one more time, heavy nets in hand. When we cast those nets into waters where we may have fished before, God knows how to fill them.

He deepens our character. He draws near to us, and enables us to know His presence more intimately. 

God may fill our nets with what our hearts have yearned for for a long time. Or, He may fill them with something we didn’t even know we needed, until He gives it to us. 

It’s only as we walk in obedience, trusting Him to be who He is, that we can grow into who He intends us to be.

What about you? When has God asked you to cast your nets in the deep water? What happened? What helps you obey His calling when you don’t want to?