Launch into the Deep

“Simon answered, ‘Master, we have worked all night long but have caught nothing. Yet if you say so, I will let down the nets.’”

Life has a way of pushing us toward places we would rather avoid.

Simon Peter knew that feeling well. He labored all night, doing what he was trained to do. He cast the net, again and again. And still…nothing.

Yet Jesus steps into Peter’s boat at a time when their failure to catch fish is fresh, and says, “Put out into the deep water, and let down your nets for a catch.”

If you pause to think about it for a moment, Jesus’s instruction is inconvenient. Peter is exhausted. The timing feels off. But Peter still chose obedience, declaring, “Because you say so, I will let down the nets.”

Like Simon Peter’s surrender during this moment, the Lenten season invites us into the same kind of posture. This season is not about proving our strength. It is about admitting our limits and obeying Jesus even when our logic, history, and experience tell us it won’t work this time, either.

Peter obeys, then here comes the catch. This catch contained so many fish, and so much blessing, that the nets tore from the overflow. There is so much abundance that help is required, and so much grace that Peter literally falls to his knees, suddenly aware of how holy this moment truly is.

Isn’t that what happens when God meets us in the deep? We realize it was never about the fish, and all about trust, transformation, and being called beyond what we thought defined us.

As you journey through this season, hear the gentle but firm invitation of Jesus:

Launch again.
Go deeper.
Trust me when you’re tired.

What you thought was an ending may very well be the place where God is beginning something entirely new, but only if you’re willing to launch into the deep.

Lord, give me the courage to trust your word in the deep places of my life and the grace to follow you when you call me beyond what I’ve known. Amen.

ONEIKA J. MCCARTHY
Master of Divinity Student
Pearland, Texas