Have you ever felt like you are falling behind and nothing you are doing is working?
I love to fish, but the part I like the least is spending all day and not catching anything. Some people say a bad day fishing beats any day at work. I don’t feel that way.
Two weeks ago, I was given a hot tip about 2 remote brook trout streams. I hiked 4 miles one way to check it out. I could envision all of the trout I was going to catch in this secret stream. I felt like someone who had a treasure map no one knew about. My hopes were high. I was motivated and ready for the trek. I battled black flies and mosquitoes to get there. I fished for a couple of hours and lost several of my favorite flies to the encroaching trees. The trip was a bust, not one brook trout, not even a bite. It wasn’t a good day fishing. It was a lot of work. The trip was a huge disappointment. It wasn’t anything like I had pictured or imagined.
We can start out with so much hope and optimism about what the future will hold. Maybe it’s with a job, a relationship, a move, finances, or even our health, but things sometimes don’t turn out the way we thought they would. What we had hoped for or planned for can feel like a big disappointment.
Have you ever felt like that? Have you ever felt like you’ve done everything you’re supposed to and things still don’t turn out the way they should?
You’re trying to honor God in your business, but it’s not growing.
You’re tithing, but you keep getting hit with more bills.
You’re working hard and the promotion goes to someone who is gaming the system.
You’re loving your spouse even when they aren’t so lovable, but nothing is changing and they’re as cold as ever.
You’re trying to bond with your child, but they’re becoming more belligerent.
When things don’t turn out how you envisioned, it’s easy to feel like quitting. It’s easy to feel like your efforts are pointless. You’re tired, discouraged, and worn out. “God, I’ve worked so hard and nothing is changing!”
There’s a guy in the New Testament who can relate. His name is Peter. Peter eventually becomes one of Jesus’ 12 disciples and one of the key leaders of the early church, but before that he was a small business owner. He had a fishing business and a few employees. On one particular business day Peter had spent the entire night fishing and catches nothing. I’m sure that’s not how he envisioned his day going.
No fish means no product to sell. If you have nothing to sell you aren’t going to be in business for long.
While Peter is taking care of his equipment, a guy he has been hearing about, a religious teacher, starts walking towards him with a large crowd following.
If I were Peter, I would be frustrated…a crowd of hungry people and no fish to sell!
Peter is minding his own business when Jesus starts walking towards him and gets in his boat…
I wonder why Peter agreed to Jesus’ request? Maybe he didn’t want to seem like a jerk. Maybe he thought he could auction off the boat for money…“Own the boat that Jesus taught from.”
Not only does Jesus take over Peter’s boat, he then proceeds to give Peter fishing advice. What was going through Peter’s mind? Maybe he was thinking…“Isn’t this guy a carpenter?” “I’m the fishing expert and nothing worked. We’ve cleaned our gear and we just want to go home and sleep. We’re tired. It’s the wrong time of day, it’s the wrong place. We’ve already tried everything.”
Peter had a choice to make…go with what he knew or trust what Jesus said.
Can you relate to Peter? I’ve been working so hard…things aren’t getting better…things aren’t changing… there’s no movement…I’m tired…I’m worn out…I’m discouraged…let’s just call it quits.
Peter made a choice when he was tired and weary that changed everything. I hope you don’t miss this…The choices you make when you are tired and discouraged can change your life. They can bring you to a breakthrough or break you.
Peter’s choice to try one more time even though it didn’t make sense changed everything. His choice changed his destiny.
Here is what I want you to remember…
Everything God has for you is on the other side of obedience.
Obedience is the choice that makes the least sense in the moment. Obedience is usually the harder of the choices to make because you’re tired and discouraged.
Notice what happens…
Peter had lots of doubts but he moved on in spite of them. We call it faith. Because you say so I will.
It’s easy for us to get hung up on the “how.” How will this ever work? How will this ever make a difference?
We forget who is making the ask of us…God.
When faced with a difficult task, don’t forget Who is making the ask.
God changes everything. We don’t have to do it in our own power and strength. We forget God can make things happen in an instant which seemed previously impossible. Peter did his part of throwing out the nets and God did the part Peter couldn’t do. The part Peter had been unsuccessful at just a few moments before.
Up until that point no one knew that Jesus had that kind of power. It’s easy for us to place limits on what God can do. God wants to do more than you’ve seen, more than you know, more than you can imagine if you’ll just trust Him.
God isn’t asking you to decide what He can and can’t do. He is only asking you to do what He said.
Imagine if Peter held on to his doubt. Imagine if Peter had said, “No. I have to put my foot down. No more, I can’t keep doing this.”
Peter was one decision away from experiencing the greatest thing he had seen (up to that point). He was one decision away from experiencing his first miracle. It certainly wasn’t his last. It was only the first of many unbelievable experiences. Think about what else Peter did…he walked on water…he saw the resurrected Christ…he preached at Pentecost and 3000 people followed Jesus…he wrote 2 books of the Bible…and was the source for Mark’s gospel…he was a leader of the early church…
Remember…
If Peter had said, “No” to what God was asking him I think he would have had a fine life, but think about all he would have given up.
I wonder what kind of life we are giving up when we say, “No.”
When our church was just a few years old the great recession hit. We listened to the reports and made all the cuts that we could to prepare for the coming storm. We even squirreled away resources in reserves. But the effects of the recession were more brutal than we had anticipated. I kept waiting for things to pick up, but they didn’t. By the end of the year we had burnt through the reserves and were on track to finish up October with a $10,000 deficit. I know that doesn’t sound dire but this was when most families made more than our annual budget. $10,000 felt like 10 million. We didn’t have money to cover the month’s expenses much less the upcoming month’s. I remember a painful board meeting where we talked about the possibility of winding things down at the end of the year. I couldn’t imagine any way out of our situation. We couldn’t control the economy. We had worked hard…all year long.
I certainly didn’t feel like preaching the next 4 weeks. My faith was weak, but because you say so I will.
Over the next 4 weeks the offering report didn’t get better. On the last Sunday I was given the report and I thought they were lying. It was, $14,000 for one Sunday! How was that possible? I gathered our leaders together because I knew we were experiencing a miracle.
Do you know which story I immediately thought of? I thought of this one with Peter. I opened the Bible and read it to our handful of leaders. As I got to verse 8 I was having a hard time reading it I was so choked up…we all were.
I totally understood what Peter felt. It’s easy to become afraid. The next time you find yourself in the same place remember…
When faced with a difficult task, don’t forget Who is making the ask.
Because…
Everything God has for you is on the other side of obedience.
