It is very common to hear or use that expression “I feel like a fish out of water”, but at this point I would like to use this phrase with a different meaning.
Our Christian life is like being a fish, living in a pond or in the sea. Just like a fish out of its natural habitat, when we leave God’s presence, we end up dying, not physically, but in our interior. The absence of God generates discouragement, anguish and emptiness, because only He is able to fill us completely.
As Psalm 16:11 says:
You make known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.
That is, a path of life is only found in God. He is the source. It is in His presence that we find full joy.
Responsibility in Life with God
During our Christian walk we constantly hear the phrase: “Jesus loves you”, and that is a fact, because it was for love that He laid down His life for us. However, several times we end up using this as an excuse, after all “if He loves me regardless of doing something wrong or right, why should I worry?”
This thought is wrong, because the awareness of God’s love for us should be enough for us to constantly seek a relationship with Him. Because we yearn for His presence and understand it as something vital.
Again we can take the psalmist as an example. He yearns and asks when he will be able to enter the presence of God.
As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
Psalm 42:1-2
Our discipline is crucial, not to God but to us, because we need Him as much as a fish needs water, as much as a deer pants for streams of water.
Reflecting Jesus
We often think we need to feel something to move and be constant, when, the truth is that the Holy Spirit is the one who gives us full certainty to walk with the Lord with perseverance.
See what App. Paul spoke to the Thessalonian church:
For when we brought you the Good News, it was not only with words but also with power, for the Holy Spirit gave you full assurance that what we said was true. And you know of our concern for you from the way we lived when we were with you. So you received the message with joy from the Holy Spirit in spite of the severe suffering it brought you. In this way, you imitated both us and the Lord.
1 Ts 1:5-6
My prayer is that we would seek the Holy Spirit to fill us with full conviction and joy. May the Lord teach us every day to love His presence more. May we learn to give God his due place in our lives. May He be first in everything.
God bless you,
Ana.
