Shore Line

 When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Luke 5:4.....

"Launch out into the deep and cut away the shore line and be lost in the fullness of God." A.B. Simpson

I can still remember when I first heard Luke 5:4 preached. I was a young believer, following Him for less than a year. But as I heard this Scripture proclaimed from a skilled preacher, I could feel my heart and spirit responding to the call. I wanted the depths of what I was being called to. I wanted to know Him more, experience Him more deeply, to have all the fullness of Him that I could. I didn't have any real idea of what that entailed or meant, I just knew that I wanted to launch out and put into the deep waters of God. I wanted to "catch" all that He had for me in the deep waters He called me to. I still do. But it meant then, as it does now, that any shore line that exists in my life has to be "cut" in order that I not be held in the shallows, within sight of all I may have depended on. I think most of His people wish to put out into the deep things of God. It's our "shore lines" that keep us from doing so.

Shore lines are meant to keep a boat and whoever is on it tethered to the known safety of the shore. It is a dangerous thing to go out into the deep waters where the wind and waves can rise so high. Fainthearted fishermen don't want to lose sight of the land, yet the fish are found in the deep. So too are the deep things of God. 

What are our "shore lines?" What is it that keeps us from "getting lost in His fullness?" What does that mean anyway? I think it certainly means that doing so puts us at the mercy of the winds and waters.  This can be a terrifying matter, unless one can trust and believe that He is Lord of the winds and waters. The disciples, many of whom were experienced seamen, were frantic with fear when they found themselves in the middle of the sea in the midst of a life threatening storm. Even when they saw Jesus coming to them, walking on top of the waves they thought would kill them, they didn't recognize Him and feared He was a ghost. They'd forgotten it was He who'd sent them out to begin with. The great part of getting lost in His fullness is that He will do these kinds of things with regularity. He knows that it's in the dangers that we really learn of who He is and how faithful and true He will be. Our shore lines will never allow us to discover that.

So, I ask again; what are your shore lines, and are you willing to cut them? Are you ready to enter into all He has for you?
Or will the longing for His fullness remain just that; a longing? A longing that goes unfulfilled. Can you, we, dare to cut all of our shore lines and learn that our safety and security was never in them? That indeed, they have been a snare that kept us from all of Him that we could experience? His deep is calling us. Are we ready to put the knife to all of our lines?

Blessings,

Pastor O