Ready for multiplication?

 

The story of the miraculous catch of fish in Luke 5 recently gave me to reflect on how the Lord works multiplication miracles in our lives. It is written:

Lk 5:1-10, “And it happened that the crowd pressed on Him to hear the Word of God, He stood by the lake of Gennesaret. And He saw two boats standing by the lake. But the fishermen had left them and were washing their nets. And He entered into one of the boats, which was Simon's, He asked him to thrust out a little from the land. And He sat down and taught the people out of the boat. And as He stopped speaking, He said to Simon, Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a haul. And answering, Simon said to Him, Master, we have toiled all the night and have taken nothing. Yet at Your word I will let down the net. And doing this, they enclosed a great multitude of fish. And their net was being torn. And they signaled the partners, those in the other boat, to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they were sinking. And seeing, Simon Peter fell at the knees of Jesus, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Lord. For he and all who were with him were astonished at the haul of fish which they had taken, and so also were James and John, the sons of Zebedee, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, Do not fear, from now on you will be taking men alive.”

For those who do not know, 2013 is the year of multiplication in my church, hence my thoughts in this direction. Peter and Co had fished all night without catching anything. They could have rightly thought that there was no fish at all. However, when Jesus sent them back, they caught so much fish that they manage to fill two boats, even though their net was being torn. Whence came the fish? Two things are possible:

1. The LORD did a multiplication from one or two fishes which were around, just like He would later do to feed 5000 men, without counting the children and women (Mat 14).
2. The LORD –the Master of Creation which is submitted to Him and obeys Him- summoned the fish, which had gone on errands elsewhere, back. Let’s not forget that He had previously commanded ravens to feed one of His prophets: so, nothing strange here (1Ki 17:4).

This encourages me not to neglect anything. This year, God can either multiply my ‘meagre’ resources –each of them is actually a seed which can bear 100, 60 or 30 grains (Mat 13:8)-, or command the blessing to make a U-turn and come back to me. My responsibility is to:

• Not hesitate one second to put all I have at the LORD’s disposal (i.e. for the church, the needy, or even an investment opportunity). It is because some people were willing to give five loaves of bread and two fishes that there was multiplication and about 10,000 people were fed. What would have happened if they had kept those for them thinking: “I need it” or “In any case, it won’t be of any help considering the needs?” It is because the widow from Zarephath did not hesitate to give the little flour and oil that was left to the prophet –even at the risk of seeing her only son die of hunger a lot sooner than expected - that the miracle of multiplication happened. The jar of flour was not spent, neither did the jug of oil become empty, until famine ceased in the land (1Ki 17:9-16).
• Prepare myself for multiplication. Peter and his partners only left with one net and two boats. Imagine what would have happened if they had taken four nets and eight boats or more? The whole village could have stopped working for months and live only on the profits of that fishing. The widow in 2Ki 4 willingly gave the only jar of oil that she had, but the prophet told her to go borrow some empty vessels from her neighbours and not to borrow a few. However, ‘few’ probably did not mean the same to her as to the prophet. The miracle of multiplication was triggered and the oil ceased to flow when there was no more recipient for it to fill. What would have happened if she had borrowed more jars? Elisha had also told Joash, king of Israel, to take some arrows and strike the ground with them. The king struck thrice and the prophet was angry. He told him that if he had struck five or six times, he would have exterminated the Syrians, but now, he would only beat them thrice (2Ki 13:14-19).

Are you really ready for multiplication? What do you have in your hand that God can use? Don’t think you have nothing. The widow of 2Ki 4 thought she had nothing. She did not realise that the only oil jar which she had left was God’s solution to pay her debts. Give God what you have without stinginess, then go and fetch as many containers as you can in order to receive what you have given to Him, multiplied. Finally, remember that when God multiplies something for you, it is always so that you may become a fisher of men, a source of blessing. Have a fruitful week and God bless you!