The blessing of inconvenience

Click here to read Luke 5:1-11

"He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon and asked him to put out a little way from the shore." Luke 5:3

Once upon a time, three fishermen were washing their nets beside a lake called Gennesaret. They had gone out to fish the previous night and tried their best all night to get a catch. However, their attempts were futile and yielded no result. Despite their hard work all through the night, the fishermen returned empty handed. They had two boats, one that belonged to a man called Simon and the other that belonged to James and his brother John. Meanwhile, Jesus was standing beside the same lake and the crowd around Him were pressing in on Him to hear the word of God.

Jesus noticed these two empty boats on the shore as well as the fishermen who were outside the boat washing their nets. He got into the boat that belonged to Simon and asked him to draw the boat a little away from the shore. Once the boat was a little way from the shore, Jesus sat down in the boat and started teaching the crowd.

Now I want you to notice a few things about Jesus from Simon’s point of view. Simon had guided the boat ashore after a long night’s work. He was now cleaning up and getting ready to shut shop. At this point in time, Jesus gets into his boat and asks him to put out a little way from the shore.

Notice the etiquette:

Notice that Jesus did not ask Simon first and then get into the boat. Jesus got into the boat first and then asked Simon. Talk about etiquettes! I wouldn’t be very pleased if you behaved that way with me. It’s only polite to request my permission first and let me know why you need me to put my boat out. If I consent, you may get into my boat and I will put out the boat for you. Jesus on the other hand, gets into Simon’s boat and then asks him to put it out. Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus has perhaps required something from you – maybe an act of service, maybe an apology to make, maybe a financial offering? He has required a step of obedience in some particular from you, but it seems so very unreasonable and impolite. Has Jesus ever put you in such a spot?

Notice the choice:

There were two boats that were on the shore. Jesus could have got into any one of them. He CHOSE to get into Simon’s boat. He could have very well got into the boat that belonged to James and John, but He didn’t. Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus required you to take a step of obedience, but somehow you felt it did not apply to those around you? You do not understand why the compelling voice inside of you to “put out your boat” apparently does not seem to be compelling other people. Have you ever used that as an excuse to delay or reject your obedience to God?

Notice the inconvenience # 1 (past)

Simon had already drawn his boat ashore after working the whole night. It was a job that was already completed. One of the most frustrating things in life is for someone to cause you to undo a work that is already done. If Simon were to put out the boat a little into the sea, he would have to row it back to the shore all over again! His step of obedience implied inconvenience to his past. Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus has required you to take a step of obedience and its implication would mean inconvenience to something that already exists? Maybe it would inconvenience a relationship. Maybe it would it would inconvenience your ego, reputation or status. Have you been delaying or rejecting God’s command because it would inconvenience your past?

Notice the inconvenience # 2 (present)

Simon was working on cleaning his fishing net when the requirement to obey came. If he were to put out his boat a little away from the shore, that would mean an interruption to his work. His step of obedience implied inconvenience to his present. Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus has required you to take a step of obedience and its implication would mean inconvenience to something in the present? Maybe it would inconvenience your current activities or relationships. Maybe a habit. Maybe it would inconvenience the time you spend on some venture. You started off on something and you would really like to complete it, but obeying God would mean halting what you started. Have you been delaying or rejecting God’s command because it would inconvenience your present?

Notice the inconvenience # 3 (future)

Simon had worked all night and was now cleaning his fishing nets. If at all he had planned to go home and catch up on some sleep or do anything else for that matter, he could forget about it now. He had to get back to cleaning the nets once Jesus was done teaching. He had to guide his boat back on the shore too. If Simon were to obey Jesus, it would imply that anything he had planned to do as soon as he was done with cleaning the nets would be jeopardized. His step of obedience implied inconvenience to his future. Has it ever occurred to you that Jesus has required you to take a step of obedience and its implication would mean inconvenience to something in the future? Maybe a future relationship. Maybe a future opportunity. Maybe a future plan. Have you been delaying or rejecting God’s command because it would inconvenience your future?

Now after Jesus finished teaching, he tells Simon, “Put out into the deep water and let down your nets for a catch.” He did so and caught so many fish that John and James had to be called over to help him haul it into the boat – and they were all amazed. Now when Jesus wanted to teach the crowd, he told Simon to put his boat out a “LITTLE” from the shore. However when Jesus wanted Simon to cast the net, he told Simon to put his boat out “DEEP” into the sea. In other words, for Simon to reach the “DEEP” he didn’t have to start from the shore, but a “LITTLE” away from the shore. Why? Because the boat was already a “LITTLE” away from the shore! Pushing the boat from the shore out into the waters often requires more strain than rowing the boat when it is already on the water. Half the work had already been done due to a previous “inconvenience!” When God seems to “inconvenience” you on matters of obedience, it is often His way to make it “convenient” for you to receive your blessing!

Listen to God’s response to Israel’s disobedience recorded by the prophet Jeremiah: “For in the day that I brought your ancestors out of the land of Egypt, I did not speak to them or command them concerning burnt offerings and sacrifices. But this command I gave them, ‘Obey my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people; and walk only in the way that I command you, so that it may be well with you.” (Jeremiah 7: 22, 23) Listen to that! “…walk only in the way I command you, so that it may be with you.” The reason why God wanted Israel to obey was so that it would be “well with them.”

When Simon obeyed Jesus in spite of the “inconvenience”

1. He became a channel of blessing for the crowd at large i.e. His boat became a pulpit for Jesus to teach the crowd

2. He became a channel of blessing to those around him i.e. James and John were not only blessed with fish, but they became disciples of Jesus

3. He received his fish, but more importantly got a call into the service of the Almighty – “…from now on you’ll be catching people.”

God blessed Simon’s past i.e. he failed to catch fish in the past, but now he had plenty. God blessed Simon’s present i.e. the very nets he had to stop cleaning became instruments to haul fish. God blessed Simon’s future i.e. he received a commission to “catch people.” If he hadn’t been willing to accept the “inconvenience” it would have been primarily a loss to the crowd, then a loss to those around him and finally a loss to himself. Every child of God is so universally involved in God’s purposes, that every positive or negative decision, no matter how small, affects not only him, but those around him and the world at large. Whenever I sense God’s “inconveniences” in His commands, I know blessings are just around the corner. Big time!

However one must note that Simon did not obey because he had the prior knowledge of the blessings that would follow nor of his personal loss if he didn't. Simon called Jesus as "Master" indicating that he obeyed because his heart wanted to and not because his mind calculated the losses he would incur if he didn't.

Thirsty?

Click here to read Exodus 17:1-7

"...the people thirsted there..." Exodus 17:3

In this passage of scripture we see the Israelites camping at a place called Rephidim. They had reached Rephidim not according to their own plan, but according to the plan of the Lord. The reason why they were at Rephidim was because they had obeyed the Lord’s command to journey in stages and God had specifically led them there. “…the whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed by stages, as the Lord commanded…” Exodus 17:1. In other words, the Israelites were walking under the perfect will of God.

They carried with them the testimony and experience of a fascinating account of God’s power and provision. God with his mighty hand had delivered them from slavery and from Pharaoh. He had split open the red sea before them. They had seen their enemies dead on the seashore. Bread had rained from heaven for them each morning and quails in the evening. Now, the Lord had led them to Rephidim.

It was obedience to the Lord’s command that brought them to Rephidim. However, at Rephidim there was no water for the people to drink. Walking in the perfect will of God, yet lacking provision! Is it possible to walk in complete obedience to God and yet lack His provision? Note verse 3 – “…the people thirsted there for water…” The keyword in that phrase is “there.” Where? - At Rephidim. Where? - At the very place that they God had led them to. What caused them to reach that place? – Their obedience to the Lord’s command. Was it not natural for the Israelites to expect God to provide them with water? They were not asking for anything extravagant. Just plain water to drink. After all, God had provided bread and meat from heaven. Has it ever occurred to you that God has withheld his blessings that you really, really, really need and you could not figure out why?

It was such a test that the Israelites encountered at Rephidim. The people complained against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?” Why did they say that? They said that because even though they were slaves in Egypt, they at least had water to drink. Even though they were being lashed by whips by the Egyptians, they at least had water to drink. Even though they had to work and toil hard to make bricks for Pharaoh, they at least had water to drink. In other words, they would have preferred to be in Egypt under slavery than come to Rephidim and die of thirst. In other words, they preferred security over freedom.

Why did God bring them out of Egypt? Was it to give them food, water, clothing and a good home? No. The primary reason was that they would worship God! That a relationship between the Israelites and God would be established and that they would become heirs to the covenants of promise. Food, water, clothing and every other blessing was a by-product – not the main product. The main product was that they would have the privilege to have God to speak to them and live amongst them and have a relationship with them.

Allow me to expand along this line of thought with an illustration. I love the beach for its sheer beauty and hence I visit it whenever I can. That is the main product – the sand and the waves. However, when I go to the beach for the sand and the waves, I am also allowed other privileges: The privilege of feeling the sea breeze; The privilege of watching birds fly around; The privilege of observing fishermen casting nets; The privilege of witnessing the joy of a child playing in water; all this and a lot more. All these are by-products of the main product.

If you were to take any of these by-products away, I would still return to the beach. This reveals the real reason behind my visit to the beach. If you were to take the fishermen away, I would still want to visit the beach. If you were to take the birds away, I would still want to visit the beach. However, if you were to take the sand and the water and waves away, I would not return to the beach, regardless of the presence of the by-products. The entity, upon whose elimination, I lose the desire to visit the beach, is the essential and actual stimulus behind my visit to the beach.

Coming back to the Israelites, when the entity of water to drink was eliminated for a while, they expressed that it would have been better for them to remain in Egypt. What does that reveal? It reveals that all along it was not God they were after but His blessings! They considered His blessings the main product! When God withholds His blessings from your life for a while – as elementary as drinking water – do you feel your faith staggering? Do you feel the flame diminishing? Do you start complaining and murmuring? Do you start questioning God’s love? If you are honest and take a close look at yourself you will come to the humiliating revelation that you have been serving God for your own means. You considered His blessings to be the main product. You will realize that your devotion to God is based on the work of His hands and not on Him. Search your heart today. Why do you serve God? Is it because you need Him to serve your means? There were plenty of people around Jesus when He was alive and doing miracles, but there was only one at His tomb when He was dead and doing nothing.

Let us look at God’s response to the complaint. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you; take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. I will be standing there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so that the people may drink.’ Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel” Exodus 17: 5-6. God provides water for them, not at Rephidim, but at Horeb, where God stood. In other words, the Israelites had to travel from the “place they thirsted” to the “place where God was.”

The journey from Rephidim to Horeb is one every believer has to take. Sooner or later God will engineer circumstances in your life that will make you realize that you have not been seeking His face, but the work of His hands. Once this revelation comes, be humble enough to take the journey from Rephidim to Horeb.

The word Rephidim means “support”. The word Horeb means “desolate”, “parched”, “dry” etc. The Israelites questioned God’s capability on whether He could give them water at the place of “support.” God’s response to the complaint was to lead them to the “parched, dry, desolate” place and made water gush from it to quench their thirst. You could call this a mighty display of God’s power. You could call it the magnificent provision of God. However, I must add God has a tremendous sense of humour!