Have you any food? . . . Cast your net on the right side of the boat, and you will find some.
So they cast, and now they were not able to draw it in because of the multitude of fish.
John 21:5-6
After a hard, fruitless night of fishing, Jesus goes right to the point by asking if the disciples had caught anything. Any fisherman knows the agony of answering “no” to that question. So it must have been hard for them to swallow that after all of their hard, fruitless labor, a stranger not only asks for fish, but then has the audacity to give them instructions on how to fish. You can just hear Peter: “Throw your net on the right side of the boat? I ought to come over there and throw you . . .”
This simple story gives us some simple principles that can change lives. First, Jesus points out their fruitlessness. He does not do this to condemn them but to prepare them for change. Hopelessness in the fruitless things may be exactly what Jesus is trying to bring us to. Before we can begin to change an unproductive area of life into being productive, we must come to and work through the difficult reality that what we have been doing is not working. The disciples could have medicated the pain of their fruitlessness by saying, “It’s just a bad night, guys. We know what we’re doing. That stranger does not know more about fishing than we do. Look at Him! He doesn’t even have a boat.” Let us not medicate ourselves in our fruitlessness with a false sense of hope, lying to ourselves, or blaming others around us.
Second, He gives them a promise with a simple yet precise instruction. He was specific. You throw the net on the right side of the boat. He used what they had in their hands, their own physical strength, and the lake they were presently on, even though for the whole night it yielded nothing. Then He gave a promise—you will find some there. Sometimes Jesus’ instructions are so simple that we think they are not supernatural enough to be Him. He used what they had and what they were familiar with. He even used their strength, but the blessing was from Him.
Third, and the hardest to swallow: they did not know it was Jesus. The Resurrected Jesus may actually come to you this way. He may minister to you as a stranger, through someone you know, or through someone everyone knows. He has the right to speak to you as He chooses. He may actually point out your fruitlessness through a complete stranger, or worse, someone you are already having difficulties with. The disciples actually took advice about fishing—which they knew how to do well—from a complete stranger. Wisdom is a possession of the humble! Pride can keep you from productivity.
Are there areas of your life that are fruitless? It may be in relationships, jobs, or investments. Where you invest your time and energy are the most important investments you make. Are you investing them in things that are productive? Has God been trying to bring you to hopelessness about what is not working in order to bring you to hoping in what does work? Is there a person or circumstance in your life that Jesus might be using to point out your fruitlessness? You may have received it as judgment or condemnation. Have there been people who offered some suggestions to you about changing something and you have not followed through? Ask Him to show you. Remember, it honors Him when we bear fruit (John 15:16). Even after your hard, fruitless work, remember that because He lives, He will visit you on your particular lake. Be confident; He knows exactly where you are!