By Chaplain (Col) Stephen W. Leonard, USA, Ret.
“Simon Peter climbed aboard and dragged the net ashore. It was full of large fish, 153, but even with so many the net was not torn.” John 21:11
Only the apostle John records this fishing expedition of the disciples and eating with the Risen Jesus beside the Sea of Galilee.
The resurrected Jesus called to them from the shore: “Children, have you caught any fish?” Of course, Jesus knew they had not. After an entire night of fishing, they had caught nothing. They did not initially know who called to them from the shore. But John was the first to figure it out.
“Cast your net on the right side of the boat!” Jesus yells to them. They did, and they caught a huge haul of fish, 153 to be exact. How did they know without meticulously and laboriously counting? I imagine Jesus was the one to tell them how many they caught. How, you ask?
He knows every hair on our head, the Scriptures tell us. Why not the exact number of fish caught? Perhaps this was to remind the disciples the LORD knew everything about them. Nothing was hidden from His sight.
Peter or one of the other fishermen could have counted them, but with immediately eating breakfast with Jesus and eating some of the catch, there was no time to count the large haul.
However, Jesus told them, and the number perhaps was a record haul of fish in one casting of the net! They may later have counted their catch, remembering the ones eaten, only to be amazed by the LORD’s accuracy of knowledge.
For you it is to know, when you are told He knows the number of hairs on your head, it is true to the very last hair. This is to show He perfectly knows you inside and out! And despite this knowledge, He loves you inside and out, as well.
The awareness of His love should warm you to your Savior more than any other’s love. His love is completely thorough and genuine; so much more than any others. That knowledge should draw you intimately to Him.
We need to come to the place we bask in His love because we thoroughly believe He loves us so. Your belief in that fact must become rock solid to bless your relationship with Him to the uttermost.
You need to ask yourself if you believe the LORD’s love for you. If you do not, you need to increase your faith in that truth. Pray toward that goal of faith: “LORD, increase my faith, to grasp how high and wide is Your love for me!”
Encouragement
“How deep the Father’s love for us, How vast beyond all measure, That He should give His only Son, To make a wretch His treasure. How great the pain of searing loss—the Father turns His face away, As wounds which mar the Chosen One, Bring many sons to glory.”
(1st verse of Stuart Townend’s hymn, “How Deep the Father’s Love For Us,” 1995)
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