Out of Nothing

"Our attention is on His ability to make of nothing we can physically see something incredible."

WHEN JESUS TOLD SIMON AND HIS FELLOW FISHERMEN to return back onto the deep portion of the lake and to toss their nets again, though they’d toiled all night and caught nothing, this time, they hauled in a huge net-full of fish. We’ve made the assumption that the Holy Spirit rounded up the fish. It is a large lake. He would know where all the fish were hiding. But one day, in reading this passage, the Spirit spoke, and it changed everything.

Think of Jesus feeding the multitudes with only a few bread and fishes. Jesus told the disciples to feed the people, and they were taken aback. Where would they get enough money to do that? Then, without answering them, He told them to have the multitude sit down in groups, and He took the bread and the fish, blessed them, and multiplied them until everyone was fed and there were basketsful leftover. The Spirit of God created something from nothing, a spiritual principle.

“Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.” (Hebrews 11:3)

This is also the picture of the net overloaded with fish. We are told it was so heavy the nets threatened to break. The Holy Spirit, at Jesus’ spoken command, created something out of nothing in a huge quantity. He didn’t merely fill the need, but it overflowed. Isn’t this the picture of Psalm 23 where David says, “My cup runneth over”? But not that it runs over to go to waste. The overflow of bread and fish fed a multitude. The overflow in Simon’s nets brought him financial abundance. It also drew the eye of many who witnessed it and turned their gazes toward the Master, Jesus.

Our abundance is meant to feed more than ourselves. In the gospels, a man built a barn to contain all he had but that night his life was taken from him. He only meant to store it and, in the end, didn’t need it. What we gather to us on the earth is only good on the earth. In heaven, we live from God’s goodness. In hell, men crave and get no relief. God wants us to live life full here then be with Him there in heaven’s beauty. This is why Jesus came. And He wants us to share what we have here and for our sharing to draw the eyes of men toward the love of God displayed in us, from us.

“Therefore, my dear friends, since God is love—and since he loves us so much —we should also accept his cure and be transformed, and love one another.” (1 John 4:11, Remedy)

The Spirit of God does not seek his own attention but turns our eyes toward Jesus Christ. He brings all things to our remembrance and guides us into wisdom so we will see and know Jesus. Jesus, in turn, reveals the Father. That is what He came to earth to do, to cleanse men’s hearts of sin so they can experience the goodness of God within them, in their spirit man and in their minds, but also on the outside. The Father knows our needs and has promised to supply them. He has said He will multiply back to us in greater measure from what we’ve given. From our overflow. From our need. The widow gave her last two mites. She didn’t horde them, burying them in the sand, as the man in the parable did. And I promise you, God took care of her for it.

We are not to seek things, not to worship money, nor to make it our life’s achievement. Because when we are gone, another man will take hold and do what he wants with it. Unless God is involved. Or I should say, BECAUSE God is involved, we will have all we need for whatever He’s asked us to do, both in our daily life and in anything He’s given us to accomplish and an inheritance for our children and our children’s children. But our attention is on His supply and that He is abundant to all and not for our own selfishness.

Our attention is on His ability to make of nothing we can physically see something incredible. When the world’s in a drought, He will place us where the ravens gather. When the enemy army is ravaging the countryside, He will raise up a man like Gideon. When it seems like all we have has been taken away, and we’re living in foreign Babylon, there, in that place of servitude, as He was with Joseph while in prison, there God can plant a garden and for seventy years, bless us so that when His deliverance comes we not only have the money of a foreign king but enough manpower to rebuild an entire city. God lamented the destruction of Jerusalem. God rebuilt the city of Jerusalem.

Out of nothing came something, and though we cannot see it, though it is not visible to the eye, from the lake and a night’s lost profits, God will work a miracle. Holy Spirit required.

Image by ha11ok from Pixabay


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Suzanne D. Williams, Author
www.suzannedwilliams.com
www.feelgoodromance.com