On our recent vacation we attended a church where Pastor Tim Rice from Lakeland, Florida told this story about a day he went to help a friend in the mining industry who he wanted to share the love of God with.
A mining company in the USA needed additional capacity for their settling pond for silt. There was a suitable pond but it had fish in it that would need to be moved as they would otherwise all be killed.
The normal procedure is to use a form of shock treatment that temporarily stuns the fish for anywhere from a few seconds to a couple of minutes where they float to the surface giving opportunity to net them and then move them to the new pond.
This is where Pastor Tim came in as it was his job to net as many fish as possible before they 鈥渃ame to鈥� and swam away again as they are only in this state for such a short period of time
As he continued to net as many fish as possible he wondered to himself, what does the fish think that escapes my net?
No doubt the fish thinks, I鈥檓 free! I got away! Not realizing that he escaped to his own demise as no fish could continue to live once the silt from the mine began to fill the pond. The fish sought to get away from the very person that was seeking to save them.
What a picture of God鈥檚 grace!
God has reached down to mankind to save him and yet we wrestle to get away from God鈥檚 loving reach thinking He is 鈥渙ut to get us鈥�, 鈥淚 don鈥檛 think I will like what God is wanting to do with my life鈥�. We struggle against yielding our life to Him thinking we may not like His plan and then, going our own way, we bring upon ourselves our own demise.
Isaiah 53:6 NLT states, 鈥淎ll of us, like sheep, have strayed away. We have left God鈥檚 paths to follow our own. Yet the Lord laid on him the sins of us all.鈥�
How Pastor Tim wished the fish actually understood and trusted him. That he wanted to save their lives not destroy them.
How God wants us to understand His great love for us and that He came 鈥渢o seek and to save the lost鈥� (Luke 19:10).
This was a powerful story to me as well to trust God fully with my life, my plans and my family. He knows what He is doing and what is best for me.
I want to be caught up in God鈥檚 net. How about you?
