by Tad Lindley
Some of you are still working on herring or whitefish and maybe thinking about halibut, but here on the Kuskokwim, we are thinking about king salmon. Did you know that Jesus is the King of Kings? That’s right, Jesus is the King of the king salmon. He is their God and they are his fish. And his fish do exactly what he tells them to do.
King salmon obey the King of kings
Salmon travel thousands of miles in their lifetime. The kings, chums, and reds that are entering the Kuskokwim right now have spent several years in the ocean and are fulfilling their mission in life, which is to return to their natal streams, spawn, and die. They do this, because that is their purpose in life. Jesus placed that purpose within them. It doesn’t matter how battered or beat up they are, they do not make excuses, they fulfill the call of God that lies within them.
Salmon have something to tell us
Once, in Martin River Slough, I beach seined a red that had a stump instead of a tail. In spite of what seemed like an impossible situation, it had survived the ocean and come home to spawn. And here we are, if we don’t sleep well on Saturday night, we feel like we can’t make it to church on Sunday morning! We have something to learn from the natural world around us.
The commandments that were never broken
In the beginning God created everything. He created it by commandment, and the elements obeyed his voice. The very first commandment we read is, “Let there be light…” The Lord spoke it and it came to pass. The photons did not procrastinate, they did not pretend they didn’t hear, they stepped up and obeyed. The second commandment occurred when God commanded the sea to step aside and let dry ground appear (Genesis 1:6). And it happened! You can read through Genesis 1 and see that every time that the Lord gave a command, the creation obeyed.
What’s wrong with us?
But ever since our great grandparents, Adam and Eve, the commandments that God gave man have been broken over and over again. In the beginning, Adam and Eve had only one commandment, do not eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. And while the rest of the creation was busy doing what it was supposed to do, bees were buzzing, waves were pounding the shore, moose were eating willows, and king salmon were swimming home to spawn, Adam and Eve decided to disobey the Lord.
The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree
That old saying goes, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.” It means that children tend to follow the same path that their parents walked. Adam and Eve’s children were no exception to the rule. They too disobeyed God. And so on and so on until it reaches our current generation. And thus we find ourselves surrounded by a natural world that is following the commands of God, while human beings drown out the voice of God and do whatever we want to do. Please don’t blame the Lord for wars around the world or for double digit shootings in Chicago every weekend. These are a direct fruit of disobeying God.
What the King of kings really wants from you
In the Old Testament people were showing out for church ceremonies. They were bringing sacrifices, they were looking right, and saying the right things, yet in their hearts they were very far from God. They were disobedient. So God spoke to the prophet: But Samuel replied, “What is more pleasing to the Lord: your burnt offerings and sacrifices or your obedience to his voice? Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. (I Samuel 15:22) The King of Kings wants you. More than anything, he wants your obedience. Out of all the creation, we are the one thing that has a choice in whether or not to obey his voice. For that reason, more than anything else, he knows that when we obey him, and when we love him, it is real. Go catch fish and cut fish, but remember the King of Kings wants you!
Revered Tad Lindley is a minister at the United Pentecostal Church in Bethel, Alaska.
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