Who Will Launch Out Into The Deep?
Gospel of Luke 5:4 (NKJV)
“When He had stopped speaking, He said to Simon, ‘Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.’”
When Jesus had finished speaking, He said, “Launch out into the deep.”
But no vessel can move into the deep while it is still tied to the dock. The mooring lines must be cast off. The lines that hold it fast, the lines that keep it safe, the lines that bind it to what is known must be thrown.
And so it is with us. We hear the Word of God, clear, piercing, unmistakable, and yet we remain tethered, held by what is familiar, held by what feels secure, held by the shorelines of this world.
But the call of Christ is not to remain. It is to release, to cast off every line, to throw off every restraint, to abandon every false security and trust the voice that speaks, “Launch out into the deep.”
There is a moment when obedience demands movement, a moment when hearing is no longer enough. The lines must be thrown, and often caution itself must be thrown to the wind, and in this case the wind is the Holy Spirit, carrying us beyond what we can see and into what only He can accomplish.
And when they are thrown, there is no turning back. The shore begins to fade, the depths begin to open.
And there, in the deep, we meet the limits of ourselves. All our effort, all our striving, all our experience comes to nothing. “We have toiled all night and caught nothing.” This is the place where human strength fails.
But then comes the turning word, “Nevertheless.”
Nevertheless at Your word.
Nevertheless beyond my understanding.
Nevertheless against my experience.
Nevertheless in full surrender, I will obey.
And it is there, in that place of yielded obedience, after the lines are cast off, after the shore is left behind, after failure has stripped us bare, that the power of God is revealed.
The deep is not entered casually. It is entered by surrender, by casting off what holds us, by trusting what calls us, and by following Him beyond the safety of the shore into the depths where only His word can sustain us and only His power can fill the nets.
And so brothers and sisters, are you ready to cast off your lines? Are you ready to throw them to the wind, to cut the ties that bind you to this world?
For this is the call of the Lord. Not to drift, not to remain near the shore, but to launch out into the deep. You may not want the deep. That is your choice, we saints all face tgis choice. The shore is familiar, it is safe, it asks little. Maybe the four walls of your church is the line that tethers you?
Maybe it is some loyalty to something other than Jesus? Perhaps our ties to this world and the things it has to offer is the line that tethers, the cares of this world? Only you can know this. Search your heart.
But to those who hear something deeper, to those who feel the pull of His voice, its time to cut any remaining lines
Look carefully at what holds you, what tethers you, what restrains you, what keeps you bound to the docks of this world.
And then you must decide how you will cut them.
Because no man drifts into the deep, no vessel wanders there by accident. The lines must be cast off, the ties must be broken, the call must be obeyed.
And only then will you know what it is to truly launch out into the deep.
A Call To The Remnant 