Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Don’t be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you. [1 Chronicles 28:20 (NLT)]
Jesus offered fishing advice to the disciples twice after they’d spent a night of fishing with absolutely nothing to show for it and, twice, after doing as He directed, they ended up with a miraculous catch of fish. The first time, their catch was so heavy that their nets began to tear and the two boats hauling it in nearly sunk from the weight! The second time, unable to pull the net into their boat, the men had to get out and drag it into shore!
Even a fresh crew would have had difficulty hauling in such enormous catches but these men had worked all night and probably were exhausted from the countless times they’d dropped or cast their nets and brought them in. Moreover, the fishermen’s work wasn’t over once they reached shore. They had to disentangle their catch from the three-layered trammel nets and had to clean, repair, and dry those nets before their work was done!
As awestruck as the disciples were by those overflowing nets, imagine their astonishment if the fish had jumped right into their boats! Surely the One with the divine power to restore lepers, cast out demons, feed a multitude with a boy’s lunch, cause a silver coin to appear in a fish’s mouth, and make fish appear at His command easily could have filled the disciple’s boats without the exhausted men lifting a hand. Despite the more than thirty miracles of provision and healing recorded in the gospels, Jesus chose to have them work for their blessing. He miraculously provided the fish but it was the men who did the heavy lifting!
Thomas Edison said, “Opportunity is missed by most people because it is dressed in overalls and looks like work.” I think it’s much the same with God’s answers to our prayers. We’d prefer a God of instant solutions but most of God’s answers come disguised as work. Just as the disciples had to cast their nets before catching those fish, the Israelites had to go out daily to gather the manna God provided, Naaman had to wash in the Jordan seven times before God healed Him, and the servants had to fill the jugs with water before that water became wine. The ark didn’t suddenly appear on Noah’s doorstep nor were Jerusalem’s walls restored in a day—God’s provision required the work of human hands!
When we ask for a plentiful harvest, we shouldn’t be disappointed when the answer looks like seeds, bags of fertilizer, a hoe, and a shovel. When we pray for relief from our debts, it’s likely God’s provision will look more like overtime or a second job than an inheritance or a winning lottery ticket. When we pray for recovery from a stroke, God’s provision may mean hours of physical, occupational, and speech therapy rather than a miraculous restoration and, when we pray for sobriety, God’s answer will look a lot like rehab, a counselor, and twelve steps to work. Although God is responsible for the outcome, we’re responsible for the work!
Saint Augustine (or possibly Ignatius) wisely said, “Pray as if everything depended on God and work as if everything depended on you.” That is good advice but only if we remember that prayer is how we must begin! It’s only after turning it over to God that we roll up our sleeves and get to work, always remembering that He alone is in charge and the outcome is up to Him!
You could not be saved through any effort of your own, but now that you are saved it is necessary for you to put forward every effort you can to glorify Him. [Harry Ironside]
After using Peter’s boat as a preaching platform, Jesus told him to take the boat out to deeper water and let down his nets. Fishing was a way of life in Galilee and Peter, Andrew, James, and John probably started fishing with their fathers when they were just youngsters. Can you imagine their reaction to this inexperienced carpenter’s son from Nazareth telling them how to fish? Didn’t the rabbi know that net fishing was done at night when the fish were more active and less likely to see the linen nets? Having fished all night, the men were tired. By that time, they’d cleaned their nets and hung them to dry; they were ready to go home, eat, and get some sleep. Experience told them that if they’d caught nothing that night, they certainly weren’t going to catch anything in the light of day! Nevertheless, even though Peter balked at Jesus’ unusual command, he and his partners reloaded their gear, took out their boats, and let down their nets.
In Sharon Garlough Brown’s novel, Two Steps Forward, a character choses to pray the Hebrew word hineni during Advent. When another character calls it a beautiful but “costly” prayer, I grew curious about this word. Hineni is composed of two little words, hineh and ani. By itself, hineh is usually translated as “behold” but, when combined with ani (meaning “I”), it usually is translated as “Here I am,” “I’m here,” or “Yes.” However, like shalom, the Hebrew hineni loses the depth of its meaning in translation.
Today’s verses are from the Tree of Life Version (TLV) that was produced by a diverse team of Christian and Messianic Jewish scholars. With the possible exception of the book of Job, all the Bible’s writers were Jews and Jesus was a Hebrew-speaking Jewish rabbi. No matter how good the translation, there are times English doesn’t capture the fullness of the original words used and this translation embraces the rich Hebrew roots of Christianity. To help the reader better understand the intent of the original manuscripts, some original Hebrew names, like Adonai (Lord) and Elohim (God), Ruach ha-Kodesh (Holy Spirit), and Messiah Yeshua (Jesus Christ) were used and some Hebrew terms, like shalom, amen, hineni, matzah, and mikveh (ritual bath), were restored. Fortunately, this translation offers a glossary for its Gentile readers.
I began my prayer with, “Lord, you’ve got to…” but got no further. “God doesn’t ‘got to’ do anything!” said a still small voice and the Spirit’s point was well taken. By beginning with an impertinent demand like a selfish petulant child in a toy store, I showed chutzpah of the worst kind and began again.
Devotions of the Heart 