To catch and release fish in a way that improves their survival, it’s important to understand that using hooks can cause injury. Fish hooks may damage sensitive areas like a fish’s eyes, gills, or internal organs. If a fish is hooked in the throat or stomach, the best approach is to leave the hook in place and cut the leader to avoid further harm. This advice is especially relevant for those interested in catch-and-release practices. In contrast, for those in commercial fishing who aim to keep the fish alive temporarily to authenticate its freshness, this method is impractical, as the fish will eventually be killed for sale.
Similarly, God warned His people about the consequences of resisting His guidance, comparing it to being caught with a hook to be led toward a better life. When people ignored signs like sickness and calamities intended to bring them back to Him, God sometimes used stronger measures to redirect them. Recognizing the difference between God’s corrective guidance and other hardships can help us return to Him with less struggle. God’s desire, after all, is for us to live with Him forever.
Fish Hook Used By God During The Old Testament Time
We can distinguish God’s “fish hook” approach from other ways He disciplines by looking at the plagues sent upon Egypt to compel the release of His people. The first nine plagues were external challenges, but the tenth was deeply personal and left a lasting impact. After this, the Egyptians didn’t risk further defiance and released God’s people. However, even this strong intervention had only temporary effects on their hearts.
God has sometimes used this method not only with Egypt but also with His own people. He warned them that if they continued to neglect His call, He would use a “fish hook” to draw them closer, showing that His guidance can be firm when necessary.
Because you rage against me
and because your insolence has reached my ears,
I will put my hook in your nose
and my bit in your mouth,
and I will make you return
by the way you came. – 2 Kings 19:28 (NIV)
The Prophet Amos recorded this approach by God as a final measure, used only after He had tried everything else to humble His people and bring them closer. Scripture tells us that, despite all of God’s efforts to correct them, they continued to ignore His discipline and drifted even further away.
The Sovereign LORD has sworn by his holiness:
The time will surely come
when you will be taken away with hooks,
the last of you with fishhooks. – Amos 4:2 (NIV)
In Amos 4:6-11, we see how God gradually intensified His discipline, ultimately using the “fish hook” approach. God paused His flow of blessings to humble His people, as blessings can often lead to pride. At this point, He withheld His gifts to remind them of their dependence on Him, aiming to provide them with the true sustenance of heavenly wisdom and guidance.
He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. Your clothes did not wear out and your feet did not swell during these forty years. – Deuteronomy 8:3-4 (NIV)
Fish Hook In The New Testament
The fish caught on Peter’s hook was likely unharmed, as God placed a coin in its mouth, and the catch was intended only to retrieve the coin, not to harm or keep the fish. Even in the era of grace, people sometimes fear the old ways God once used, though these methods have passed under His grace. Many also mistakenly interpret God’s discipline as punishment rather than guidance.
My son, do not make light of the Lord’s discipline,
and do not lose heart when he rebukes you,
because the Lord disciplines the one he loves,
and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son.”
Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as his children. For what children are not disciplined by their father? – Hebrews 12:5-7 (NIV)
God no longer punishes us as though we are just creatures under His power, for He has embraced us as His own children. Therefore, it’s mistaken to view every difficulty as a punishment from God. Until we fully receive the spirit of Sonship, everything may seem like punishment.
Although we are now God’s children, we still live in a fallen world and are affected by its troubles. As long as we are here, we must recognize that this world lies under the influence of the devil (1 John 5:19). We need to learn to discern what comes from the devil and what is taught by God. Until we grasp this truth, everything may seem like either a work of the devil or a punishment from God.
The Cross Done Away The Fish Hook
The time when God would “hook” people for their wrongdoing has passed. When He called Peter to be a fisher of men, He didn’t equip him with a hook but filled him with love. Instead of holding each person accountable for every sin, God placed His own Son on the cross to fulfill the law and remove the eternal death it brought to humanity. It’s therefore misguided to believe that God constantly punishes us to bring us back to Him.
A shift occurred when God offered His Son as atonement for our sins, replacing the “fish hook” with the Cross at Calvary. God transformed the cross—once a horrifying instrument of death—into a symbol of His love. When we understand this, we no longer fear God but are inspired to love Him with all our heart, mind, and soul. With this love, the troubles of the world that once seemed insurmountable to us can be overcome with ease.
Jesus replied, “Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.” – Matthew 17:20 (NIV)
The disciples of Jesus were puzzled by their inability to drive a demon out of a young boy. In response, Jesus reveals that there are two kinds of faith; though they may seem similar in size, their power is vastly different. The first, “so little faith,” is rooted in self-focus, while the second, “faith as small as a mustard seed,” is grounded in a love for God. When our faith centers on ourselves, self-pity can take over, keeping us from reaching out to help others. But when our faith is grounded in love for God, His compassion fills our hearts, and nothing can stand against the power of God’s love.
A Case Study
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. Suddenly there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains came loose. – Acts 16:25-26 (NIV)
If Paul and Silas’s hearts hadn’t been filled with God’s love, they might have had only enough faith to pity themselves and pray solely for release. But rather than focusing on their suffering, their love for God allowed them to rise above their hardships and rejoice in His presence, even in the midst of imprisonment. When our hearts are filled with God’s love, we can experience His presence no matter what situation we face. His presence leads us to praise Him, and through that praise, our burdens can be lifted in remarkable ways.
While we often believe that praising God will ease our struggles, true praise should flow from His love within us, not as a conditional act or a routine from a book of praises. The kind of fear toward God seen in the Old Testament may hold us back from fully embracing His grace. If we remain fearful, we are not fully embracing the gift of His grace. Instead, let us love God wholeheartedly to fully experience His grace.
I do not set aside the grace of God, for if righteousness could be gained through the law, Christ died for nothing! – Galatians 2:21 (NIV)
When we truly experience His grace, we can’t help but praise God. This genuine encounter with His grace doesn’t just affect us; it brings deliverance to all through the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:17). When Paul and Silas praised God, immediately all the prison doors flew open, and everyone’s chains were broken.
The Jordan Valley 
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