Daily Manna, Year Two · Day 108 · April 18
At Thy Word
“And Simon answering said unto him, Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net.”
It is just after sunrise on the lake of Gennesaret, and the fishermen are washing their nets. That is what fishermen do when the night's work is over and they already know how it went.
Jesus had borrowed one of the boats, which belonged to Simon. He asked Simon to push out a little way from the shore, and He sat in the boat and taught the crowd from the water. Then, when He had finished speaking, He gave Simon a fishing order: "Launch out into the deep, and let down your nets for a draught." A carpenter was telling fishermen where the fish were, and at the wrong end of the day.
Simon's answer is worth reading slowly: "Master, we have toiled all the night, and have taken nothing: nevertheless at thy word I will let down the net." He begins by telling the truth about the night. He does not dress it up, and he does not pretend he expects anything different. The word Master here is one only Luke uses, and it is the ordinary word for the person in charge of a job. Then comes the turning point, the word "nevertheless." Simon makes a decision without a prediction and without any rush of confidence. He lets down the net because Jesus said so.
What follows breaks the net and fills both boats until they begin to sink. Yet Simon is not delighted. "When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me; for I am a sinful man, O Lord." Before the catch he called Jesus Master; now he calls Him Lord, and the first thing the miracle does is make him ask Jesus to leave. Jesus answers, "Fear not; from henceforth thou shalt catch men." He stays, and He gives Simon a new calling.
"Nevertheless" is open to you today, and it costs nothing you do not have. You can say it even when you feel nothing at all. Say it over the thing you have already given up on, and let down the net one more time at His word. The Lord who met Simon beside his empty boat is the same Lord who meets you beside yours.
Daily Manna runs on a two-year cycle. The year one reading for day 108 is Trust without Fear (Isaiah 12:2).