This happened on the Sea of Tiberius (Sea of Galilee). The disciples are in a depressed mood because of the horrific events leading to the death of Jesus. They have gone to Galilee and returned to what they knew best: fishing.
They have to make a living and so they spend the entire night out on the lake. Early the next morning they are headed to land, but a voice calls to them from the shore, asking if they have any fish.
Moisture hangs in the air and thick fog makes it difficult to see who is calling to them. They are ashamed to say that they have not caught a single fish all night, but they finally admit the truth.
The voice calls back: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” It seems foolish. They have been fishing all night and the fish are just not biting for whatever reason. They still have the nets in the water on the left side of the boat and nothing is happening. What possible difference could it make to put the net in on the right side?
They are professional fishermen, and they have no idea who this stranger is. But for some unknown reason they unquestioningly take out the nets and throw them into the water on the other side of their boat. And the Bible says, “When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish-153 to be exact and all large fish”. The catch was so large that they could hardly get the net to shore. But in spite of the pressure on the net, it did not break or tear.
They are stunned at what has happened and it suddenly dawns on them who it is who has been calling to them. It could be no one else. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, ‘It is the Lord!\'”
Let us examine our life in this perspective
1. End of your resources?
We meet God when we come to the end of our resources. The disciples had been fishing all night. They had done all they could do. They knew the best fishing holes. They knew how to use their tackle. They were experts at their trade, but they still had no fish. They were at the end of what they could do. Their resources were spent.
It is good to come to the end of our resources and realize our weakness, so that we give in to God. We just turn the control completely over to him, and forget about personal success. We realize we can\’t do anything on our own anyway, so we ask him to completely take over, and determine that we will do whatever it is he wants us to do. We stop trying to make things happen and let him have his way. And, amazingly, that is when things begin to happen.
2-Have you tried everything and nothing happens?
Sometimes God puts us in situations where it seems like there is no answer. We have tried everything. We thought we knew what needed to be done. It worked before, so we think we already know how to do it, and now someone telling us a simplistic answer that drives us up the wall.
Perhaps God is asking us to do something beyond what is simplistic; it may even seem like something foolish.
We\’ve been fishing on the left side and now you think fishing on the right side of the boat will make a difference! We have been working all night and you think one more cast is going to change anything?
3- You never learn?
There are some people to whom you simply can\’t tell anything, because they think they already know it all. They don\’t want your advice. They don\’t want to hear it and so they never learn. You have to have humility and a willing spirit. You have to be willing to listen to Jesus and do what he says.
“He gives health where there was only sickness. He gives strength when there was only weakness. He gives life where there was only death. He gives hope where there was only despair. He gives forgiveness where there was only shame. He is the God of new beginnings. When we reach the end of ourselves, we come to the beginning of him.”
