John 21:1-3 – Lessons from failure

The scene we see now in John 21 was by the Sea of Galilee. This was where the disciples had come in obedience to the instruction of the Risen Lord through Mary Magdalene. Jesus told her, “Go and tell my disciples that I go before them to Galilee. There I will appear to them.” John would describe the manner the Lord would appear to them later. Verse 2 tells us that Simon Peter, Thomas called Didymus, Nathanael of Cana in Galilee, and the sons of Zebedee, and two others of His disciples were together. Peter, who felt bored and probably still feeling terrible for denying Jesus, wanted to go fishing. The rest also quickly added that they would go with him. So that night they went out to fish.

Remember, these were fishermen. And night fishing in the Sea of Galilee was common. Fishermen would attract fishes to the boat by using torches, and then have them netted. Peter and his companions here were expert fishermen, yet they caught nothing, toiling the whole night. This was truly unusual for them. We are reminded here that every experience in our life has a purpose. We must not forget that God plays a key role in our experiences. He will arrange the circumstances of our life to get our attention. Their fruitless catch perhaps was to show them and us that without the Lord, our activities in life would remain fruitless and futile. So we read that they toiled all night and caught nothing.

Herein is another lesson: people often think that their achievement had been accomplished by their own cleverness and ingenuity. Many would claim themselves to be self-made people. We must not forget that everything we have in life comes from God. He is the one who has afforded us every opportunity in life. When we don’t realize that He is our source, we will depend on people and think that they are the source. We may even look at the successes of others with envy and jealousy. The mistake in those moments would be a failure to realize that God is our source and men are just His resources for us. If not for God, we will neither have the opportunity nor the resource to start with.

If we are not careful in handling success, it can be the ruin of our spiritual journey. We need to realize that failure can be a blessing if we can only see the hand of God through it. A failure, when properly apprised, will force us to pause and re-look at life. In those moments of reflection we will be brought face to face to consider the cause of our failure. It will also allow us the opportunity to consider the steps to realign our life and our relationship with God. Without a doubt it can draw us to acknowledge that apart from God, we can accomplish nothing.  

All experiences in life can be a God-moment if we take time to look at God’s intended lessons. Refuse to see a failure as the end. It could just be God’s appointment for a new beginning with Him. So every disappoint we have in life can be God’s appointed moment to relaunch into the deep, for a greater journey with Him.