To Encourage You

John 21:6 “He said to them, ‘Cast the net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.’ So they cast it, and now they were not able to haul it in, because of the quantity of fish.”

Have you ever thought about how little you really know about just about anything?  The way we view our knowledge depends on what we are comparing that knowledge against.  Most of us can find someone who knows less than us – and perhaps much less – about something or other than we do.  However, we can usually find someone who knows more than we do about that very same thing.  But when any of us compare ourselves with the knowledge of God, i.e., omniscient knowledge, we fall woefully short. 

In the account above Jesus has called out to expert fishermen with His question.  They, in spite of their expertise, had fished all night – and caught nothing. Then Jesus gives them some very simple advice: cast your net over the right side of the boat – and the results changed immediately. 

Isn’t that true about the knowledge of God when it comes to anything in our lives? He always knows a better way.  We have the freedom in life to do whatever we do either on our own or with the help and wisdom of an all-knowing God. No matter what we are doing, no matter what the challenge at hand, God always sees the situation with a much clearer and much more knowledgeable view than we do, for He knows absolutely everything about everything.  We can be at our wits end about something, but to Him, it is a trivial issue.  One little word from Him can change the situation in incredible ways. He can bring wisdom and understanding into the most perplexing and confusing situations in life.  And the wonderful truth in all of this is that He wants to help us.  He has told us to “pray about everything” (Philippians 4:6).  He has told us to trust in Him with all our heart and not to lean on your own understanding.  He has promised that if in all our ways we acknowledge Him, He will direct our path (Philippians 3:5-6).  He has told us that His Word is “a lamp to our feet and a light to our path” (Psalm 119:105). 

Yes, we can live our lives in the way that seems best to us, with no thought given to the ways of God or we can lean on the God who has told us a better way, a way that is based on omniscience.  We can struggle along doing our own thing in our own way, or we can trust Him and His Word above all things.  We can live our lives in our own way, or we can follow the Way, the Truth, and the Life (John 14:6).  We can do all we do, with no thought given to Him, and struggle, or we can do all things through Christ, who strengthens us (Philippians 4:13). 

May God help us to have the wisdom to acknowledge Him in all our ways, so that He can truly direct our every path.