It’s the second half of the year and I know a lot of people are already discouraged and wishing 2022 could just finish. They feel that the year was not a good one, for various reasons ranging from new year’s resolutions that were not accomplished or even started, the losses and failures they experienced in the year so far. But the truth is, the year is not over yet, and it's not too late to start over, and as a matter of fact according to the Jewish calendar the new year begins on September 25th (Rosh Hashanah), so technically, the year is only beginning.

Personally, for me in 2022 I experienced significant loss, not of people but of a business I had invested my heart and soul into, and because of the current recession and the residual effects of Covid-19 I had to let it go, and in some way, I feel like I failed. It has been in these moments of failure and discouragement that the Lord has reminded me of Simon Peter in John 21.

Let me spill the tea on this one, Simon Peter had just denied Jesus Christ three times, the Savior was crucified on the cross and the prophecy was fulfilled, which was spoken. And in that moment of feeling like a failure, feeling discouraged, feeling that he betrayed a friend that he was a few chapters ago willing to die for, Peter did what we as human beings do and went back to what he knew, back to what was familiar.

Peter went fishing, and some of the disciples went with him. You see many of us, when things don’t work out, when we try something new and fail, when we follow the instructions of the Lord and it seems that things don’t work out, our first instinct is to go back to who we were before that moment and so Peter went fishing. From John 21:1 –6 we read about how Peter was fishing the whole night and caught nothing. 

When morning came and Jesus spoke and asked if they had caught anything- and they hadn’t- He instructed them to cast the nets on the right side, and when they did things changed for them. 

Today I want to encourage you, that even though you have toiled and toiled, you worked hard the whole year and achieved nothing or even failed at the thing you had begun, even if you had been procrastinating for the whole year always making excuses as to why it’s not a good idea. I encourage you today to cast your net on the right side, though you are feeling discouraged, even though you have even given up, I encourage you to trust God again and cast again. 

Start again, start over or start afresh, whatever you need to do, do it because the year is not over yet, you still have the opportunity to succeed, because its morning, and the Savior is encouraging us to cast on the right side. Though you have been casting on the left side the whole night and catching nothing, at His word cast on the right side and believe that this time things will be different.

Start over, start again and trust the Lord.

Target Scripture

He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. John 21:6