Ponder Point - Luke 5:3, "Now when he had left speaking, he said to Simon, Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a catch. And Simon answered, "Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets."
When was the last time you heard a call to launch out into the deep? It sounds like it would be a wonderful experience, knowing from this side of the story how it all turned out with a massive catch.
But seriously, Can you imagine being Peter, a fisherman all his life, after having fished all night, hauling in heavy, empty, dirty nets and then in the midst of cleaning and repairing them beach side hearing Jesus commission you to NOW, reload those nets, and hoist the sails to launch out into the deep water in the middle of the day?
I think if I was Peter, my first argument would be, 'You're a carpenter, what do you know about fishing?' Everyone knows the best fishing is at night, not full sun. And YET, Peter (who may have thought those things) does it. Amazing. What was his reward of faithfulness and obedience? A Giant Catch.
Are we willing to Launch out into the deep. Granted sometimes it seems to overwhelming to consider the cost, the exertion, and it doesn't make sense to our logical understanding. Our mind gets in the way and says this won't work, it's not the right time. Our logical mind can hinder us from the amazing opportunity because we call it quits just shy of a prize. We expect that if God is going to do something miraculous and overwhelmingly amazing, it will just happen, we don't have to go through the rigors and exertion of 'launching out' that the 'catch' will just appear. Or that it will happen as we would have it, in our time, our experienced understanding of how things are supposed to work.
People have said these things to me regarding music, "Well if your supposed to create a CD, God will do it. " Agreed, He will provide, but I have to be willing to Launch Out. I have to load the nets, get the sail up, row out, and then trust that what He commissioned, He will accomplish by supplying what I cannot. And that he did overwhelmingly when we launched out to create our cd, Come and Sit for a while. In many areas, where Jesus has said "Launch Out" we've seen God move in fascinating ways.
He wants us to participate with Him in this amazing journey of faith. Its not just sitting on the shore and waiting for God to just bring it all to us, He said "Launch out", which requires much of us in energy, faith and obedience just to get out there, out of our comfort zones, out of our understanding, and head into that which He has prepared for us...to me Him out in the deep.
What about you? Has God called you to Launch out into the deep? Has he put something in your heart, that you couldn't do on your own? If He called you to it, He will provide the completion of it.