Experienced fishermen, fish at night. Why? The answer is simple- it is best to fish at night! Wow, how smart! 

Okay, seriously, fish are more active at night because of lower water temperatures, when the sun has gone down. During the day, the water is warmer, as a result, fish dive below to where the water would be cooler, and they become less active.   

As experienced fishermen, Peter and his companions knew this and usually did their fishing through the night.  

Jesus later appeared to his disciples along the shore of Lake Tiberias. Simon Peter, Thomas the Twin, Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, and the brothers James and John, were there, together with two other disciples.  

Simon Peter said, “I’m going fishing!” The others said, “We will go with you.” They went out in their boat. But they didn’t catch a thing that night.  

Early the next morning Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize who he was. Jesus shouted, “Friends, have you caught anything?” “No!” they answered.  

So he told them, “Let your net down on the right side of your boat, and you will catch some fish.” They did, and the net was so full of fish that they could not drag it up into the boat.  

There are two occasions in which the Lord would give Peter and his companions the instruction to cast their fishing nets again in the morning after they had toiled all night. The first is at the early stage of His ministry and the second after His resurrection.  

In Luke chapter five, where we have the first incidence, Peter and his companions were packing up their nets after a long night of fishing but catching nothing.  

The Lord, who may have been more or less a mere acquaintance to them at this time, requested the use of one of their fishing boats, which belonged to Peter, as a platform to speak to the multitudes that had gathered to listen to Him.  

After the speaking engagement, He asked Peter to launch out to some deeper waters and cast his nets. That was a difficult proposition for Peter because they had “toiled all night,” which was the best time to do any reasonable fishing, but the result was that they caught nothing. Experience had taught them that fishing in the morning would not get any better results. 

Have there been times in your life when guided by your experience and knowledge, you engaged the best of your understanding, putting your best effort to achieve certain goals but it ended up being unprofitable and all the time and effort wasted? 

The second occasion Jesus would ask Peter and his companions to do something similar was after He had resurrected from the dead. It is recorded in John chapter 21.  

By this time the former fishermen who in the last three years had become close companions of the Lord returned to fishing, and they faced a similar challenge of toiling all night and catching nothing. 

 Jesus comes to the seaside and calls out to them; cast your nets on the right side of the boat. Instinctively, they respond positively to the instruction and pull up a tremendous catch. 

 You may have known the Lord for years, walked by faith with great testimonies to tell; you have tasted of the powers and glories to come, but all that has come to a screeching halt. All you now have is testimonies, stories of a glorious past. The Lord seems to have left you, and you do not feel His presence any more. Friend, all is not lost.

 There are times in our lives when we need to wait on the Lord rather than toil all night, leaning on our own understanding. We will wait because we trust Him completely and expect to get a word from Him. We will wait because we are assured that He will guide us in the right paths beyond our knowledge and understanding. We will wait, knowing that He loves us and He has our best interest at heart. 

 But life does not often give us the luxury of waiting, and so like Peter, even though we have experienced and known so much of the Lord, and He may have done tremendous things through our lives, the pressures of life are unbearable, and we return to the cycle of toiling all night as we did before we met the Lord.   

Have you returned to toiling all night? What has it profited you? Jesus called out to them, saying, “Hey guys! Did you catch any fish?” “Not a thing,” they replied. If Jesus asks you that question today, would you be giving the same answer, that you have toiled all night and caught nothing?

Trust in the Lord completely, and do not rely on your own opinions. With all your heart rely on him to guide you, and he will lead you in every decision you make. Become intimate with him in whatever you do, and he will lead you wherever you go. Do not think for a moment that you know it all, for wisdom comes when you adore him with undivided attention and avoid everything that is wrong.  

The Lord is calling you to have confidence in Him once again, to depend on Him rather than on your own understanding. He is dependable. Wait on the Lord, think through and do what He tells you. 

Thank you. Do not forget to keep living loving and learning. 

References: John 21:1-6, CEV. Proverbs 3:5-7, TPT.

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