SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 6/8/2017
9:15 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-2 “Human
Weakness and Failure”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference: John 21:1-5
Message of the
verses: “1 After these things Jesus
manifested Himself again to the disciples at the Sea of Tiberias, and He
manifested Himself in this way. 2 Simon Peter, and Thomas called Didymus, and
Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His
disciples were together. 3 Simon Peter said to them, "I am going
fishing." They said to him, "We will also come with you." They
went out and got into the boat; and that night they caught nothing. 4 But when
the day was now breaking, Jesus stood on the beach; yet the disciples did not
know that it was Jesus. 5 So Jesus said to them, "Children, you do not
have any fish, do you?" They answered Him, "No."”
If we go back and look at Matthew 28:16 we read “But the
eleven disciples proceeded to Galilee, to the mountain which Jesus had
designated.” I don’t know if this is a
good comparison or not but if you look back at the OT story of King Saul when
he was suppose to wait for Samuel to come to him before a big battle was to
take place, and because of Saul’s impatience he did something that he was not
suppose to do. Now these disciples
should have been on the mountain waiting for Jesus, and yet impatient Peter
decided that he was going to go fishing and so the other disciples listed here
went with him. I have mentioned before
that it seems to me that Peter because of his betrayal of Jesus decided to give
up and go back to something that he had done for many years, and that was
fishing, and perhaps the other disciples did the same thing too. This was a transition period for the
disciples. John MacArthur states that
three lines of evidence support the conclusion that Peter was going back to
fishing for fish and not men. “In 16:32
Jesus had predicted that the disciples would abandon Him: ‘Behold, and hour is coming, and has already
come, for you to be scattered, each to his own home.’ The word ‘home’ was added by the translators;
the Greek text reads simply, ‘his own,’ which encompasses one’s home, property,
possessions, and affairs (cf. 1 Thess. 4:11where the same Greek phrase is
translated ‘your own business’) Christ’s
prediction thus implies more than that the disciples would return to their own
houses. Second, the use of the definite
article with the noun translated ‘boat’ suggests a specific boat, probably one
belonging to one of the disciples (or even Peter himself). Finally, the Lord’s challenge to Peter in
verse 15, ‘Simon, son of John, do you love Me more than these?’ is best interpreted when ‘these’ is seen as a
reference to the boats, nets, and other paraphernalia associated with his
fishing business. The Lord was calling
Peter to turn his back on his former livelihood and be totally committed to
serving Him.”
We see that because Peter said he was going fishing,
returning to his old profession that some of the disciples decided to go along
because they probably felt that going into the work that the Lord called them
to do was over as they were all very discouraged. So they, being seasoned fishermen knew that
the best time to fish on the Sea of Galilee “Simon answered and said,
"Master, we worked hard all night and caught nothing, but I will do as You
say and let down the nets’ (Luke 5:5).”
The problem they had then is the same problem they had now, that is they
caught nothing. Perhaps they remembered
that time at the beginning of their ministry with Jesus. I have to believe that Jesus was behind their
lack of success of fishing.
Next we see Jesus standing on the shore as day was breaking
and the disciples were heading back to shore so they could see Him, not knowing
at this time who He was. Jesus then gives
them a mild rebuke asking them “Children, you do not have any fish, do You?” They had to acknowledge that as they were
trying to provide for their needs had failed , “they answered Him, ‘No.’” They were doing something that Jesus had not
planned for them to do. MacArthur writes
“They had failed to reckon sufficiently with Jesus’ plan for their lives and
His ability to supernaturally hinder their efforts. It is as if He said, ‘Do anything else and I
will see that you fail.”
As I have listened to many sermons by John MacArthur and
therefore have heard the story of how the Lord got him back into the calling
that He had called him for by having him be thrown out of a car and sliding on
his backside for a couple of hundred feet and while this was happening he gave
into doing what the Lord called him to do.
Jesus had spent three years with these men, had just gone to the cross
to die for their sins and there was no way that these men were going to go back
to fishing again, only fishing for men.
Spiritual meaning
for my life today: I think of what
was really a question Jesus asked these men “do you have any fish” and they had
to answer no because they were not doing what He desired them to do. Jesus loves me too much to keep me from doing
things that I am trying to do on my own, as I need the power of His Spirit
guiding me as I go through life desiring to do what He desires me to do.
My Steps of Faith for Today:
“Be anxious for nothing, but in
everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be
made known to God.”
Answer to yesterday’s Bible
question: “Cyprus” (Acts 13:2-4).
Today’s Bible question (and
it is a hard one): “Who was known as the
one ‘who made Israel to sin’?”
(Hint: “Israel”)
Answer in our next SD.
6/8/2017 9:52 AM
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