December 29, 09 Devotioal

BECAUSE JESUS KNOWS EVERYTHING WE CAN COUNT ON HIM
In Luke 5: 1-7 (NLT) we read: “ 1 One day as Jesus was preaching on the shore of the Sea of Galilee, great crowds pressed in on him to listen to the word of God. 2 He noticed two empty boats at the water’s edge, for the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. 3 Stepping into one of the boats, Jesus asked Simon, its owner, to push it out into the water. So he sat in the boat and taught the crowds from there. 4 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Now go out where it is deeper, and let down your nets to catch some fish.” 5 “Master,” Simon replied, “we worked hard all last night and didn’t catch a thing. But if you say so, I’ll let the nets down again.” 6 And this time their nets were so full of fish they began to tear! 7 A shout for help brought their partners in the other boat, and soon both boats were filled with fish and on the verge of sinking.”

What a great story Dr. Luke gives us. Simon and his fellow fishermen were washing their nets. They had finally given up. It’d been a long night. They were going home without a catch that night. Jesus hollers to them to go out where the water is deeper to catch some fish. They told Him something like, “Come on Jesus, we’ve been at this all night. There are just no fish biting.” Perhaps under their breath they were actually saying something like: “Give me a break! He’s just a carpenter. He still doesn’t realize we know what we’re doing when it comes to fishing. We’ve fished all night and caught nothing many times before.” These men truly were experienced fishermen. They had done all they could and had caught nothing! Indirectly, they were actually saying to Jesus, “look Jesus, it’s just been one of those nights. We’ve failed; Okay? No big deal. We just caught no fish, we did our best.”

In our day we might put it this way, “Hey, let’s face it, the economy is bad, business is not doing well, have not sold anything the whole day, employers are retrenching and many people are being laid off, companies are moving their businesses to Mexico and India, and we all know that the banks are not lending, the stock market is not doing well, the government can’t agree on health care or cap and trade, and small businesses are struggling everywhere, and so on.”

As this year draws to a close friends, I have some really good news for us all, Jesus is All-Knowing. He knew what the fishermen had gone through and He had the solution for them. When they did what He asked them to do, verses 6 and 7 tell us that the nets overloaded and both boats almost sank. In the same way my friends, Jesus knows everything you are going through right now and believe it or not, He has the solution for every one of those challenges yet to be resolved. He has all that you need to finish our 2009 and to embark upon 2010 with a positive outlook!

Remember friends, God knows everything. According to what David said in Psalm 139:2 He knows when you have your down moments and he know when you have your up moments. It says in the NLT: “You know when I sit down or stand up. You know my thoughts even when I’m far away.” His plans or you are not for evil but for good, to give you a future and an expected very blessed finish. The truth is friends, no matter how tough this year has been, no matter how many difficulties you have faced, no matter how you might be ‘feeling’, no matter what may still be ahead of you, I can tell you with absolute certainty that God still has a plan for you! On this busy Tuesday when this year is near its end and all the unknowns of what 2010 holds is almost in sight, let’s be encouraged reminding each other that Jesus does know everything,. Because Jesus knows everything, we can count on Him!

Have a Great week and a Blessed New Year!

In His service by your side,

Pastor Darryl