Focus: The Deep

Text: Lk.5:4

"Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught."

Jesus Christ says to Peter, "Launch out into the DEEP…" In Revelation John is told to "come up hither." Life has both depth and height. Isaiah says, "And the remnant that is escaped of the house of Judah shall again take root downward, and bear fruit upward" (Isa.37:31). That's it again! Life has the downward and upward sides. Also, life has the breadth side of it. Jabez prayed, "Enlarge my coast," meaning that life has its broad side. Interestingly too, life has length. Paul describes the love of God as having depth, height, width and length.

Now back to Peter. The divine instruction to Peter is: "Launch into the deep." The woman of Samaria says to Jesus Christ, "For the well is deep." Why is the Lord Jesus Christ telling Peter to launch out into the deep? It is simply this, that shallow waters cannot produce the kind of success you are looking for. Real success is found deep down in the sea. Real treasures are hidden from sight. 

In Isaiah we read of the "treasures of darkness." Gold and precious stones are mined from the earth. God buried them deep down in the earth. The Word says, "They shall call the people unto the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness: for they shall suck of the abundance of the seas, and of treasures HID in the SAND" (Dt.33:19). God said to Cyrus, "And I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and HIDDEN riches of secret places…" (Isa.45:3). 

Real wealth is never found lying around on the surface of the earth. Diligence is required to get the best out of life.

The Lord Jesus Christ tells a parable, and says that "the kingdom of heaven is like unto treasure hid in a field" (Mt.13:44). So we see treasures hid in the sand and treasure hid in the field. The Scripture tells us of treasures hid in the seas, in the snow and in the hails. Even in Christ are "hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge" (Col.2:3).

Paul also tells us about the deep things of God. He says, "But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the DEED THINGS of God" (1Cor.2:10). The Message Bible puts it this way, "The Spirit, not content to flit around on the surface, dives into the depths of God, and brings out what God planned all along." God has depths that we can't ever fully fathom. We need to go deep enough to uncover more and more of God's mighty mysteries and his infinite sweetness.

To succeed in life you have a role to play regardless of whether or not you have failed once or many times previously. To go deeper in your walk with God you have a role to play.

Launching into the deep is your job to do, not God. God will give increase if you are ready to plant or water what is planted. You must be the reason for your own success. Do your part and let God do His! Human responsibility and divine sovereignty have to align to conquer failure and produce success.

Peter and his colleagues toiled all through the night and caught nothing. They didn't fail because they were unintelligent. They didn't fail because they weren't good at their jobs. In fact, they were skillful and experienced. They were experts in their field of endeavor. They were familiar with their tools and had mastered the art of fishing. They had been doing it for years. Yet, they failed all through the night? They needed to learn the lesson of the fundamental necessity of the God-factor in all of life's endeavors. They needed to understand that except the Lord builds the house, the builders build in vain, and except the Lord watches over the city, the watchmen stay awake for nothing.

We need the presence of Christ in our lives to succeed. On our own we can accomplish nothing. The arm of flesh will always fail. 

With God in our lives we can transform failure into success and mistakes into miracles. We can succeed where we once failed.

We also need to comply with His instructions to succeed in business, career and profession. God teaches us the way to make profit and move up the ladder of success. With God all things are possible and through Christ we can do all things. As a matter of fact, it is the instructions of God we obey that determine how far we can go in life.

Let us launch out into the deep and let down our nets for a catch! Let us move beyond the shores and the shallow waters! The success we seek lies in the deep places of the sea or the earth. Both spiritual and material successes are found beneath the surface of diligence and discipline. Good things of life are not found within our comfort zones. 

Make extra effort to succeed in your life! Dive into divine depths and make up your mind to move from the end of the tether to the top of the ladder. If we seek God with all our hearts, we will surely find Him. The deep things of God wait for our earnest and diligent efforts in order to yield to us their wealth.

by Bishop Moses E. Peter