“O Lord, turn us back to thyself, and we will come back.”
I like to fish. I love the first tug of the line; the sudden pulling away in panicked flight, the sneaky coming back at me, the leaping fight as the fish struggles to be free. I love feeling, smelling, and seeing the beauty of the fish I eventually catch.
Sometimes, I imagine myself as a fish on God’s line — He’s certainly got a hook in me. Yep, I took the bait. And His hook is quite secure. Oddly enough, most of the time, it does not hurt. I’m not even bleeding. Occasionally, I swim in circles. Other times, I swim away. Not as much now as I did when I was younger in the Lord.
God’s a skillful fisherman. For one thing, He knows exactly where I am and what I am thinking. He knows my feeble plans; He understands my little heart. He knows when to give me slack in His line; and when to pull hard to “turn [me] back.” I “[do] come back.”
God knows the fish he has caught — every flaw and the trophy I can be.