Searching for Kaleo

Sometimes, I feel like I’m hitting my head against a brick wall, especially in ministry. There will be that one kid, that you love and pursue and spend time with and teach and disciple and invest in, and simply feel like there is nothing coming back. Sometimes it seems like its the entire group. You can teach and love and then there is only so much more that can be done. Sometimes I think we feel like we’re hitting a brick wall over and over with the same results. It seems as if nothing is happening. And then Jesus tells us to keep at it. 

In Luke, Jesus did the same thing to Peter. He took him out onto the water, after an exhausting night fishing, when Peter hadn’t caught a single fish. Peter was tired. Peter was beat down. Peter was discouraged. Peter had done everything right all night, and had no results. Peter was ready to give up. And Jesus tells him to let down his nets again. Peter responds as we often do: “Master, we have toiled all night and took nothing!” But he doesn’t stop there. This is the part that got me. I think often I stop there. I say “God, I have worked so hard with this kid, I have done everything that they could possibly need, and more, and I can’t love them any more. I just can’t do it.” But Peter didn’t stop there. He, in the same breath says, “But at your word I will let down the nets.” Peter acknowledged his hard work, his lack of reward for his work, but he still listened to Jesus. And they were rewarded greatly! The passage says that their boats were so full that they began to sink!

And this is the response we must learn to have to Jesus. Even when it feels like we’ve been working so hard, doing everything we can, he will still tell us to go again and keep at it. And the reward will come in HIS timing. And as we see in Peter, our response will be to fall down and worship him. It says that these men saw Jesus power, and “they left everything and followed him.” When we trust Jesus, when we listen to him, we will see him work in great ways. We will see him work in great ways, and the only response we can have is to worship him for his greatness.

Somedays, I sit down to read my Bible and just end up in awe. God shows me a little something I’ve never seen before. Or some days, he just reminds me of something I’ve always known, but never just sat in awe of. This morning, he reminded me of one of those things. He reminded me of his plan, and how it all fits together so perfectly.

God has a great plan, a huge plan of redemption that we can see throughout the Bible, weaving its way through history. We can see it in Isaiah as God tells the prophet that he will turn his back on the people who have turned their faces from him. Yet, in this, God is still working in individuals in the nation of Israel. He is still working in Isaiah. Isaiah tells us, “For the LORD spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me, and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying: “Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread. But the LORD of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, and let him be your dread.”(Isaiah 8:11-13 ESV) And yet, this chosen people, as a whole, has turned their back on God. These are the people who once could say 

“God is in the midst of her; she shall not be moved; 

God will help her when morning dawns.

The nations rage, the kingdoms totter;

he utters his voice, the earth melts.

The LORD of hosts is with us;

the God of Jacob is our fortress. Selah”.

(Psalm 46:5-7 ESV)

Now these people have completely turned from, and forgotten the Lord. God chose this nation from among all nations to be his own. He chose to love them and protect them and use them to show himself to the world. He chose to dwell among them and be their God. Yet they have chosen other gods and worshiped creation. And the Lord tells Isaiah “They will pass through the land, greatly distressed and hungry. And when they are hungry, they will be enraged and will speak contemptuously against their king and their God, and turn their faces upward. And they will look to the earth, but behold, distress and darkness, the gloom of anguish. And they will be thrust into thick darkness.” (Isaiah 8:21-22 ESV). As I finished chapter 8 of Isaiah today, I honestly was a little depressed. I mean, “thrust into great darkness”? These are the chosen people of God! How did it get that bad? And then I looked over to chapter 9, and the title of that chapter is “For to us a Child is Born.”

God knew Israel would turn astray. He knew they would go after other gods. He knew he would redeem them, with his only Son. He knew, and he planned his story of redemption to look exactly as it does. Jesus was not a back up plan. He is THE plan, he always has been. God knew we couldn’t do it on our own. He knew our tendency will always be to turn from him, but he draws us back to him anyway. And this was the craziest part to me. In the middle of this saga of redemption, where God is working all things together for his ultimate plan, he cares for each individual. He chose to speak to Isaiah and remind him to that he should fear the Lord. And in Matthew 18, Jesus tells us about how much God loves each person. He says “If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. So it is not the will of my Father who is in heaven that one of these little ones should perish,” (Matthew 18:12-14 ESV). God cares about each individual. When one of his precious little ones goes astray, walks away from the pack, he goes after them, and he is the one who brings them back safely. He brings them back to his safety, his love, his protection.

Our God is so great, he has a grand plan of redemption woven through each day of history, working towards his ultimate glorification, and yet each day he seeks out those who have gone astray. He brings us back into his loving fold, and protects us. How great is our God?!