THIS is a good word for 1917. God help us to live up to it. There it lies before us — the Great Deep of human need. We have our choice; we can roam along the shore, and watch it, philosophize about it, play with it with our idle pebbles, build our sand castles by it; we can sleep on the pleasant shores of ease, lulled by its mighty voice — or we can launch out into the deep, and serve our God upon its waters. Which shall we do this year? Some may say, “We have toiled since the War began, and now we want to rest awhile, we want leisure to ground our boats, and mend and dry our nets.” This was what the fishermen were doing by Genneseret when Christ was here. He knew all that they had done, but He was going to bless their lives by making them do more. And so He got into their boat, associated Himself with them, came into their lives and work, and gave the command, “Launch out into the deep and let down your nets for a draft.” He took command. Simon may have thought he knew the business of fishing best, and so he says, “Master, we have labored through the whole night and have taken nothing.” All his skill and practice had been in vain that night. Simon knew a good deal about fish, but he had to learn a good deal about himself. And oftentimes we toil through nights of opportunity, and waste our strength for naught. We can but say as we mend our broken nets of failure, “My service is barren and unfruitful.”
And then the Master comes. He takes up the broken threads of our lives, tangled by our incompetency, and He straitens things out for us, that comes into our works and gives His sweet commands. He helps us mend our nets. Simon knew that the One who gave the commandment was the Messiah, and in spite of his bitterness of his own failure, he says, “At Thy word I will let down the net.” “At Thy word.” The path of obedience is the path of blessing, and so it proved. “They enclosed a great multitude of fishes, and their nets brake.” Oh! may we go fishing with the Master this year. May we have Him with us in our lives and in all our work. Yes, as we look together to the coming days of 1917 shall we say “We will not go fishing without Thee, for Thou alone canst make us fishers of men.” “Without me you can do nothing.” Nothing, Lord! Our boats and nets are no good without Thee. We own it in Thy presence, Lord. In Thy mercy take all we have and bless us in the taking. We would go into the great deep of human need with Thee this year. Five million British soldiers, Lord. We would go to them with Thee. Millions of French, and Italian, and Russian soldiers, Lord. A great deep. We wait Thy word to let down our nets in these mighty waters.
May the Master call us all to launch out into the deep this year. Does my importunity weary you? As long as I am here, with the need so real, I must let the want, be known. When my service is done and I am gone, I shall trouble you no more, but while I am here, with my work before me, I must plead for these precious souls.