What About the Fish?!
Seeking His Presence Above His Provision
It’s me, Lindsay. (I know, it’s been a while!) Coming to you on this rainy day in Kenai, Alaska from an adorable coffee shop, hidden in what feels like the middle of nowhere, where I have beautiful views of the lake and float planes. You may have read the title and thought I came to write about how I caught my FIRST Kenai River red salmon a couple weeks ago. Of course not! (But if you insist, I’ll drop a photo for proof at the end.) Now onto the real content…
I had one of those moments with Scripture this morning. One of those moments when I’m reading something I’ve read many times before, but it hits me in a completely different way than it ever has before. Read this passage, and then I’ll explain.
Luke 5:1-11 CSB
As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word, he was standing by Lake Gennesaret. 2 He saw two boats at the edge of the lake; the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 He got into one of the boats, which belonged to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from the land. Then he sat down and was teaching the crowds from the boat.
4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water and let down your nets for a catch.”
5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we’ve worked hard all night long and caught nothing. But if you say so, I’ll let down the nets.”
6 When they did this, they caught a great number of fish, and their nets began to tear. 7 So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them; they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink.
8 When Simon Peter saw this, he fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I’m a sinful man, Lord!” 9 For he and all those with him were amazed at the catch of fish they had taken, 10 and so were James and John, Zebedee’s sons, who were Simon’s partners.
“Don’t be afraid,” Jesus told Simon. “From now on you will be catching people.” 11 Then they brought the boats to land, left everything, and followed him.
After reading to the end of this passage, I was a little stunned. Jesus just performed an incredible miracle right before the eyes of some discouraged, empty-netted fisherman. In a final, last-ditch-effort cast of their net, they went from nothing, zilch, nada to so many fish that their nets were tearing and their boats were sinking! I was so caught up in the excitement of this story, and then I was completely caught off guard when I read that they left everything to follow Jesus.
I felt the urge to stand in my chair, protesting, “BUT WHAT ABOUT ALL THE FISH?!?!?!” (Good thing I didn’t actually do that, or else I would have woken up my snoozin’ family.) But truly, I was left with a whole host of questions about those fish. So Luke…are we gonna talk about the fish or what? Who took the fish? Did someone take them to market to sell them on behalf of Simon? I mean, that must have been worth a lot of money! Or did the crowd throw them over a fire and have a fish feast for lunch? It could have been a 2-for-1 miracle: filling the nets with fish AND feeding the multitudes.
And then I heard the gentle whisper of the Holy Spirit, “My presence will always be greater than my provision.” Right to the heart like a dagger, I understood what He meant. The fish? Yeah, a pretty amazing miracle. The invitation to follow Jesus? The greatest miracle of all time.
The more I reread this passage, top to bottom, verse by verse, word by word, giving it time and space to sink deep into my heart, I began to see three different postures toward Jesus’ presence.
Desperate for His Presence
“As the crowd was pressing in on Jesus to hear God’s word…” (v. 1)
First, we have to understand who this crowd was. If you flip back to Luke 4, you’ll see that Jesus was at the beginning of His ministry and kinda beginning to raise a bit of a ruckus! Preceding chapter 5, He had been performing miraculous healings and drawing the attention of a very curious crowd. Luke 4:42 tells us they were searching for Jesus, trying to prevent Him from leaving them. Jesus basically tells them, “Listen…I have a job to do. Gotta go!” And what does the crowd do? Chase him!
The Greek word for “pressing in” is epikeimai, which is used in other parts of the New Testament to convey things like requiring, demanding, and compelling. This crowd was desperate to hear God’s Word. They were so amazed by what they had seen Jesus do for others, they pressed in on him in hopes of seeing a miracle they could call their own. It wasn’t simply a crowd…it was a crowd of people. Individuals with unique stories, troubles, heartaches, needs. Chances are they each had their own reason for being compelled to chase after Jesus.
I could be wrong about this, but I imagine that the size of the crowd played into the hype. It’s certainly easier for me to get hyped about something when lots of other people around me are just as hyped (i.e. Stanley cups, sourdough, homemade iced shaken espresso…yeah, I’ve fallen for some of the viral things). But I wonder if any of them would have chased Jesus so desperately all on their own?
Resistant to His Presence
Jesus performs another miracle, this time for Simon. When Simon realizes that Jesus had miraculously filled his nets with fish, he crumbled.
“He fell at Jesus’s knees and said, “Go away from me, because I am a sinful man, Lord!” (vs. 8)
Oh, the irony. A multitude of people are begging for Jesus to stay with them, and here’s Simon telling Jesus to go away. (In the words of Stephanie Tanner, “How rude!”) Simon was so aware of his sinful nature and so stunned by grace, he could hardly stand to be in the presence of his Lord.
Have you ever been there? Just yesterday, I cried over my kitchen sink, heartbroken over my sin. I could sense the Spirit gently leading me to go apologize to my kids for my harsh reaction to their mistake, and yet I could hardly believe the Lord would even be willing to extend such a grace to me.
And isn’t that exactly what His presence is to us? Grace upon grace upon wonderful grace.
Sold Out to His Presence
“Then they brought the boats to the land, left everything, and followed him.” (vs. 11)
Simultaneously stunned by grace and fish, Simon was left with a choice: provision or presence. And just as the Holy Spirit reminded me this morning, Simon knew Jesus’s presence would always be greater.
The fishermen left everything.
They. Left. EVERYTHING.
Sold out. Surrendered to His grace. Willing to follow Him wherever He may lead.
Let it be true for me too, Lord! May I be quick to leave it all behind to follow you. May I never seek your hand more than I seek your heart. May I always cherish who you are to me more than what you can do for me.
Presence over provision.
Further Reading: Want to read another example of this presence-over-provision posture? Read Luke 18:35-43.
Your Turn: Invite the Holy Spirit into your time in the Word each day. It’s never about growing in knowledge for the sake of knowledge. It’s always about growing in understanding of the character of God and being transformed by the power of His Word.
I’ve been sitting on the deck of this coffee shop for nearly two hours now. It’s 54 degrees, and my fingers and toes are cold, so I guess I’ll wrap this up! Thanks for reading. My prayer, as always, is that you are encouraged today. Encouraged in your faith and encouraged to keep digging into God’s Word.
Love from Alaska,
Lindsay
As always, so good!!! Such good insight from the Holy Spirit!!
I love this Lindsey, made me ponder so much during this incredible Red season. Thank you for sharing.