Gone Fishing

I said: "Let me walk in the field";

God said: 'Nay, walk in the town";

I said: "There are no flowers there";

He said: "No flowers, but a crown."

I said: "But the sky is black,

There is nothing but noise and din";

But He wept as He sent me back,

"There is more," He said, "there is sin

I said: "But the air is thick,

And fogs are veiling the sun";

He answered: "Yet souls are sick,

And souls in the dark undone."

I said: "I shall miss the light,

And friends will miss me, they say";

He answered me, "Choose tonight,

If I am to miss you, or they."

I pleaded for time to be given;

He said: "Is it hard to decide?

It will not seem hard in Heaven

To have, followed the steps of your Guide."

I cast one look at the fields,

Then set my face to the town;

He said: "My child, do you yield?

Will you leave the flowers for the crown?"

Then into His hand went mine,

And into my heart came He;

And I walk in a light Divine,

The path I had feared to see.

--George MacDonald

I was so convicted by this poem when I read it.  I ALWAYS seek out my own comfort and make excuses that "God couldn't possibly be asking me to do that!".

When my husband graduated seminary, there were several churches he could have applied to, but I always balked at them because I didn't want to move or I didn't feel that I was "cut out" to be a Pastor's wife in a "city" church, let alone live in the "city".  My husband ended up Pastoring in a small country church which was my dream, but the experience ended up being a nightmare.  It's not the building or the surroundings that matter, but the hearts inside...

I always marvel at missionaries.  How selfless they are to give up friends, family and creature comforts to go out into the mission fields.

Or those with the gift of evangelism who will share the Gospel even when it might be an uncomfortable situation.

Recently our Pastor preached from a portion of Scripture from the Book of Jonah.

So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh according to the word of the LORD. 

Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three days' walk. Then Jonah began to go through the city one day's walk; and he cried out and said, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown." Then the people of Nineveh believed in God; and they called a fast and put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.…

Jonah 3:3-5

Whenever I have read this passage of Scripture, I've always gotten a sense that Jonah, although obeying God, was doing so reluctantly; hoping for a different outcome... "Yet forty days and Ninevah will be overthrown"...

  Like a little brother who had to give the toy back to his little sister and walks up with shoulders and arms drooping and head down and with an attitude says, "Here!..., and then throws the toy at her."

After all, Jonah's anger afterwards would indicate that he was hoping Ninevah would be overthrown.

But our Pastor brought up an interesting point.  He said that the word "overthrown" in Hebrew means "transform".  Our Pastor went on to say that the Lord had worked in the hearts of the people of Nineveh prior to Jonah arriving there so that when Jonah preached, a transformation would take place in them from wickedness to believing God.  

Our Pastor then stated that in the same way, God goes before us and does the work in a person's heart before we share the Gospel.   It's not up to us to transform a life, but to bring the transformation to light, through sharing the Gospel, which God had already been working inside of them.

If the Lord has been nudging you to share the Gospel with a person or a group of people or in a specific area, that "urge to push" that I like to call it, should encourage you that the Lord has gone ahead of you to do the work, to fertilize the ground which is now ready to receive the seed of God's message of salvation.  Even if you don't see results, that doesn't mean that the Lord has not worked or is not working.

Our Pastor gave a closing analogy that my husband and I sure could relate to - fishing!  He said that when you go fishing, it's not like your catching fish cast after cast, but you continuously cast and move around the lake or pond until you find fish that are biting.  The more you cast, the more chance you have to catch a fish.  

I can add to the Pastor's analogy, another method of fishing is trolling.  Basically, you have your fishing lure out in the water while you canoe around the lake or pond.  This way you cover a lot of area and the lure goes deeper from the movement of the boat.  I caught my first trout that way!  lol.

The point our Pastor was making is that we should look upon sharing the Gospel the way Jesus did, as "fishers of men".  The more we share and the wider area we cover, the more chances we will have of "getting a bite".  For the Lord has already prepared the way for His Word to be received.  We need only to obey.

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