LAUNCH OUT INTO THE DEEP

" Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." (Luke 5:4)

Jesus was standing by the lake of Gennesaret, which is the Sea of Galilee and the Lake of Tiberias. Here it is called "the lake of Gennesaret" because it was in the region of "the land of Gennesaret" (Matt 14:34). As our Lord stood near the water, the people crowded around Him to hear the word of God (5:1-2). Seeing two unoccupied boats nearby, Jesus entered into one of them, which, we are told, "was Simon's." He then "sat down, and taught the people out of the ship" (5:3). When He had finished speaking to the people, "He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch'," as though to reward Simon for the use of his boat. Simon replied they had "toiled all night and caught nothing." However, faith rose to the occasion and he continued, "nevertheless at Thy word I will let down the net" (5:5). When he let down the net, it enclosed such a multitude of fish that the net broke. Quickly Simon and Andrew "beckoned unto their partners, which were in the other ship, that they should come and help them." As a result, they "filled both the ships, so that they began to sink" (5:7). A multitude of fish like that could not be caught close to shore. It required launching out "into the deep," where multitudes of fish could more readily congregate, and a larger catch could be realized.
What a picture of the harvest of spiritual insights and understanding! Many a soul rarely receives anything from the Lord because they linger too close to world's shore. They settle for elementary things, and rudimentary observations. They can feed on Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, but not on Hebrews, or Romans, or Ephesians. They love to think in terms of application and practicality, but not of spiritual realities themselves, the purpose of God, or the world to come. Such souls will never realize a rich harvest of Kingdom  thought. They will never be able to say, "How precious also are Thy thoughts unto me, O God! how great is the sum of them! If I should count them, they are more in number than the sand" (Psa 139:17-18). That kind of blessing requires launching out into the deep–away from the shoreline of spiritual infancy. It also requires faith to probe in deep waters expecting to receive a lot from the Lord. You will not spend much time with Jesus until He will challenge your faith, pointing you to the deep waters of His word, and challenging you to let down the net of thought and contemplation, expecting to bring in a rich harvest. Oh that more were inclined to fish in deep waters!