MY FISH HATES TAKING BATHS

“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

Jeremiah 29:11

My pet Betta fish Lofanzo, hates it when I change out the water in his bowl. He swims frantically around the tank while I am chasing him with the net. I always eventually catch him and put him safely back into the new, clean water and he goes back to his normal routine. I know he does not like it, but I still have to do it because I know that if I do not clean out the dirty water he is living in, he will die. He does not realize the danger that he is in living in his own filth, but I do. I know what is best for him, and I do what is best for him, even if it makes him uncomfortable for a little while.

I was not having a great day. It was not awful but it just seemed like things just weren’t swinging my way. As I was unloading the dishwasher, I was thinking about my day and I looked up at Lofanzo’s bowl and thought to myself, “fish are lucky because they don’t have to have bad days”. As I completed my thought, I remembered Lofanzo’s frantic swimming and I started to realize how similar our relationship with God can be to a fish being chased by a net.

Sometimes days are bad or circumstances don’t turn out the way that we think they should but, God knows what we need and exactly when we need it. He sees us in our filth and still chases us with a net to pull us out and put us into something better. Sometimes we would even prefer living in the filth because we want to stay comfortable. If God didn’t pull us out, we wouldn’t be where we are. God sees what you need and has a reason for every circumstance that isn’t exactly perfect in the moment. We can trust God, knowing that He sees the whole picture. Fish have limited sight, they are stuck in their small little glass bowl on the counter, they can’t see past that because it is all the know. I think humans are like that, a lot of times all we can see is what is directly in front of us and our desires, but God can see the whole picture. We can live confidently knowing that God has plans to prosper us and not harm us. How cool is it that the Lord of the everything declares His goodness over us??

We have to trust that hard times or bad circumstances that come our way are to prosper us. Sometimes they may feel like they are harming us, but we have to have faith that God knows what He is doing. Especially since he can see the whole picture.

God loves us too much to leave us alone. He does not want to leave us in our filthy water.