Fishing in the Dark
Notes on Fishing for Men
“Add light, and everything changes.”
To most people, fishing in the dark sounds like a fool’s errand. What’s the point? You can’t see the water, can’t read the structure, can’t spot the fish. May as well stay home.
But add one element — light — and it becomes some of the most productive fishing there is.
As a boy I used to affix my Coleman lantern off the stern of the boat and drop my line in below it. On a good night I could actually see the fish rising near the surface, drawn in by the glow. The same thing happens with bugs drawn to a summer streetlight — the light creates a food chain, and the fish follow it. What seemed impossible in the dark becomes productive when light enters the picture.
I’m not sure the disciples were particularly successful commercial fishermen — every time their fishing is mentioned in the Gospels, they’d been out all night and caught nothing. But I’d wager they used lanterns when they fished at night, for exactly this reason.
For us fishers of men, fishing in the dark is the assignment. Jesus didn’t come for the righteous. He came for sinners. Our mission field is a dark place, and that’s not a problem — it’s actually an advantage, because in the dark a light is irresistible.
The light, of course, is Jesus and His Gospel. He is the source. We don’t generate it. But we have two roles to play.
The first is to create the environment where His light can be seen — our community, our relationships, our open doors.
The second is harder: to reflect that light. The Moon has no light of its own. It reflects the Sun. Our words, our actions, our passions, our attitudes — in the dark places where we live and work and raise our families — these are meant to reflect Christ in a way that draws people toward the source.
Two questions worth sitting with:
Who are we attracting? And whose light is drawing them?
Let His light shine in and through you. - This is The Way
Here’s the link to the entire series:
https://www.thisistheway.live/t/fishing-proverbs