Gone Fishin'
Some of my favorite times in middle school were going to the mountains with our church friends. We would go down the hill to the dock and fish a LOT! There was an unspoken competition between everyone for who caught the most fish and the biggest fish over the weekend. We all had our theories on how to catch the most or the biggest fish: which side of the dock had the most fish, which bait to use, how close to the shore the fish were, but there was one tool we all fought over: the Tweety Bird fishing rod. If you woke up early enough to get to the dock first and snatch the “golden” rod, don’t put it down and look away for even a second or it would be stolen. The little kid fishing rod caught quadruple the fish any other rod caught in the mountains.
Cast your cares on the Lord
and he will sustain you;
he will never let
the righteous be shaken.
--Psalm 55:22 (NIV)
Life is like fishing at the mountains with the Tweety Bird rod. We all have debates on the best “bait” and “place” to cast our issues. But you see when we have our “Tweety Bird Rod” (God), we can cast our bait, our issues, our problems anywhere in the mucky waters of life and we can come up big.
You notice something though, the author of Psalm 55 tells us to “cast your cares on the Lord.” He doesn’t say, “cast your cares, then reel them back in because you are a control freak.” No, he tells us just to cast our lines out into the mucky waters, where you can’t see what your hook is landing in or near.
It’s like fishing. Blindly throw your line in and hope something will happen. Sounds crazy, but think about when Jesus told the disciples to cast their nets on the other side of the boat. They caught so many fish their boat started to sink. Obviously this is a literally fishing event, where Jesus saw something on the other side of the boat through the cloudy water that the disciples couldn't. But this speaks volumes to a life dedicated to Christ.
Jesus sees something we can’t in the mucky waters. When life gets tough, don’t worry about the gross bait on the end and take faith in the “Tweety Bird Rod”. Cast your line - your cares, your worries, your fears. And trust.
Fishing isn’t my favorite activity. I’d rather be hiking or swimming, but that’s because it takes time. You can’t just reel the line back in the second you feel something, but you also can’t keep it in too long or your bait will get eaten up. It’s about perfect timing. And life is the same way. Don’t cast your line and immediately reel back in or you won’t get to experience the catch God has for you. But don’t let your line in too long either or those catches will pass you by.
