A couple of weeks ago I came home and my beloved fish was sitting in the bottom of the tank. He was under the little bush in the tank. I tapped the outside, hard. No movement. I got very sad. My previous fish lasted almost 2.5 years. This one only lasted a year. I was saddened. I did not want my daughter to witness me discarding her fish’s body, so while she was busy, I figured I’d get to the arduous task of throwing him out. I picked up the fish tank, and all of a sudden, he started swimming around as if nothing happened.
I breathed a sigh of relief.
Since then, I’ve observed something peculiar about my fish. While I try to always keep his tank clean, I don’t always get a chance to change the water on time. Whenever his tank is dirty, he has a tendency to go hide in the bottom of the tank, with very little movement. When I do change the water, he becomes happy. He swims around and then has a tendency to stay at the top of the tank.
I’m reminded of the story of Adam and Eve. When they had sinned, they tried to hide from God. They realized they were naked and were ashamed.
Genesis 3:8Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?”
10 He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so I hid.”
It might be a little extreme for me to compare my fish to Adam and Eve, so I’ll compare myself.
Whenever I’ve done things that I know are out of God’s will for my life, I hesitate to go and talk to and spend time with Him. I feel guilty and ashamed and try to hide myself. It changes my relationship with Him. This is not what God desires, and thankfully we serve a forgiving God. We need to approach His throne in submission, knowing that He is willing to forgive and cleanse us. Thank God that like I do for my fish, He can make the waters clean again, so that instead of wanting to hide at the bottom under the little bush, I will want to swim at the top and feel squeaky clean. Thank God for a loving and forgiving God.
Dear Heavenly Father, thank you that you can make all things new, including our former selves. Help us to recognize that it is not in our own abilities that we will be saved and forgiven, but only by coming to you and being willing to admit our shortcomings.