The importance of Timing, in Time

Joh 21:3 Simon Peter said to the others, "I am going fishing." "We will come with you," they told him. So they went out in a boat, but all that night they did not catch a thing.

Joh 21:4 As the sun was rising, Jesus stood at the water's edge, but the disciples did not know that it was Jesus.

Joh 21:5 Then he asked them, "Young men, haven't you caught anything?" "Not a thing," they answered.

Joh 21:6 He said to them, "Throw your net out on the right side of the boat, and you will catch some." So they threw the net out and could not pull it back in, because they had caught so many fish.

If they had known the future, they could have saved themselves a whole night of labour. But they didn't know. If they had received the Holy Spirit at that time, they could have possibly prayed about it, and God could have told them, that they need not work through the night. But would they believe that?

Sometimes God works independently of our own efforts

I have experienced a few times in my life, where I was facing a serious workload and some important deadlines, pushing myself to go with one or two hours of sleep per night for weeks on end, and then at some point, I feel God telling me to just rest. Quite a few times has it then happened, that the deadline suddenly was moved. The meeting I was preparing for, was postponed, or a project was cancelled or postponed.

Financially, I have also experienced that I would work and work and work, and business would just not seem to run the way I want it to run. My finances would be tight – in fact, going backwards – and the suddenly something would happen, and there would be a flow of money from a totally unexpected source. As if God is reminding me, that He ultimately remains the provider.

This is not a pattern, though

To return to this scripture: We must also note that this was not a pattern. This is recorded to have happened twice, in their entire lives as fishermen. So it has also been in my life. Diligence and hard work, as a key to success, seems to be a pattern, but God coming through at times, and sudden success overtaking us, almost totally independent of our own efforts, does sometimes happen.

Staying close to God can save you a lot of time

We have the advantage over these disciples today, that we have the Holy Spirit, and we can learn to listen for the Shepherd’s voice, at all times. If they could have asked Jesus the previous evening, they could have had a good night’s sleep, and just gone out for half an hour the next day, getting the same results as they got from a whole night’s toil. So I think the principle for us to take away from this, is to keep in step with God. Take time to pray and know what God is doing, and align ourselves with that, continually. That way, we could save ourselves many hours of needless toil.

Unless the Lord builds the house …

This ties in nicely with this scripture:

Psa 127:1 If the LORD does not build the house, the work of the builders is useless; if the LORD does not protect the city, it does no good for the sentries to stand guard.

Psa 127:2 It is useless to work so hard for a living, getting up early and going to bed late. For the LORD provides for those he loves, while they are asleep.