Free from Pressure

We've all seen pictures of the huge Black or Striped Marlin being hooked by fishermen, and the gruelling and exhausting duel between the strapped-in fisherman and the thrashing fish (sometimes called a Sailfish or Spearfish, and documented to reach 1,400 lbs). As the huge fish starts to tire out, he will begin to surface, breaking water in a most dramatic way, shaking his head vigorously trying to throw the hook which could very well mean his eventual death. We might well consider why he does that. It has been said that the reason is that with the pressure under the water, he is unable to successfully sling his head back and forth, hoping to free himself by dislodging the hook. The water surrounding his head under the surface limits his ability to escape the line.


We might compare the Marlin's situation to many who for one reason or another find themself "hooked" by one form of worldliness or another. It might be a type of entertainment, or an attitude, perhaps negative association, or even pursuits that in themselves might not be wrong, but that do not encourage spiritual advancement. When one realizes that this attraction or pursuit is affecting his spiritual standing, he needs to take steps to lift himself out of the environment that restricts his "throwing off" the "hook". Trying to free oneself of the potentially death-dealing pull, one needs to rise above the "sea level" of this old world, into the air above, and vigorously war against the hook in an attempt dislodge it. We cannot throw off bad things by remaining in the pressured surroundings of Satan’s "sea", were we are held almost immobile by his design.