Wednesday, March 29, 2023

          As we know, fishermen were among Jesus’ first disciples.  Matthew 4, Mark 1 and Luke 5 all detail Jesus’ call to these men.  Each of the gospels presents some detail and perspective on that call.  In Luke’s gospel we read this account, “When Jesus had finished speaking, he said to Simon, ‘Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch’” (Luke 5:4).  When these men followed Jesus’ instructions, the results were amazing.  They caught so many fish that their nets began to break and the boats were so full of fish that they began to sink (Luke 5:6-7).  Lesson...taking Jesus at His word and trusting Him can produce profoundly amazing results...more than you can imagine! 
            Perhaps you have a sense that the Lord is calling you to “deeper waters.”  Maybe there is something that God is nudging you to do.  Maybe there is an unfulfilled calling in your life that you know without a doubt has come from the Lord.  You may have played life safe for a long, long time—preferring not to take a risk or even to act in faith.  God often calls us to life’s deeper waters.  And in such places, we learn invaluable lessons about faith, trust, surrender and what it means to be a disciple. 
            In order to learn to swim, you must at some point move to the deeper end of the pool.  The safety of water where your feet touch the bottom and you can stand upright is not really swimming.  That’s just standing in a pool of water.  We often limit our faith in God to what we can reasonably manage or accomplish.  We do not expect much else.  We often ask God to bless what we are already comfortably and feasibly doing rather than trusting Him to shape us and make us beyond what we may be.  At first, Moses did not want to trust God in the deep waters of confronting Pharaoh and leading Israel out of Egypt.  He had all kinds of objections and excuses.  But Moses finally took God at His word. 
            There was a rich young man (some Bibles say he was a ruler too) who came to Jesus asking some serious questions.  But he did not like Jesus’ answers.  Our Lord called him to move into deeper waters and to take steps of unparalleled faith and trust.  I suppose this young man preferred a simple answer or for Jesus just to affirm what he had already been doing.  But Jesus pushed him to be and to do something far more.  And this man walked away—choosing the shallow and comfortable waters where he had long been dwelling to the deeper waters and deeper life that Jesus offered him.
            Faith cannot be described as getting our feet wet but keeping our head dry.  Getting our feet wet is but a step to something better. We often must let go of the familiar and manageable to experience what the Lord may have for us.  The Lord very well could call us to get wet from head to toe as we serve and follow Him.  Remember, Jesus could have called legions of angels to fight to save Him from the cross.  But Jesus took the cross instead.  And He took the cross so we would not have to take it.  Faith is often measured by the crosses we carry, the deep waters in which we swim and our willingness to choose His ways over our ways.  Stepping into the deep waters may open our eyes to see the Lord more clearly than ever before.  And if the Lord leads us to deeper waters, we can trust He is with us and He knows the way before us.  Remember, God never abandoned Israel in the Exodus.  Though the people were often defiant and disobedient, God led them by a pillar of fire and cloud, through the Red Sea and across the dangerous terrain of the wilderness.  God continues to lead His people as they obediently follow Him into the deeper waters.  Have a great Wednesday!  Our church worship can be found at youtube.com/FirstBaptistKannapolis.