Listen To The Fish You Sluggard

Yes, I know I got the usual term a bit wrong, but it is meant that way.  Stay awhile and you might find out why.

How often do we forget to read our Bibles? -Or maybe some other excuse: busyness, sickness, tiredness, perhaps even disinterest.  But there are other times to read the Bible besides the scheduled morning & evening . The words of God are our comforter, our encourager.  Yet it is often the times when we need it most that we don't read our Bibles.

And this is where the "fish" come in.  You see, this morning I was over by my fish tank, just appreciating my decorative pet fish.  The fish quickly swims over to the feeding area and I can tell that he is hungry.  So I pick up the fish food; and right as I am doing that, he turns around and swims to the other side of the tank.  I sprinkle a little food in the tank but he does not realize that the food he so badly wanted is right there.  I tap the glass a bit, hoping to get his attention, but it wasn't working.  I thought "You stupid fish! Don't you realize that there's food right here?"

And then it donned on me; the thing I was accusing my fish of, we do ALL the time with God.  We are feeling just horrible, maybe we simply had a bad day, perhaps its something worse.  God sees that, and offers comfort all around the clock through His Holy inspired word.  It is our most reliable source of comfort and is often the very last think we turn to, or maybe we, like the fish, don't even realize its there.  We are hungry, God offers food, but we don't take it!

Now the purpose of this post is not to show you the similarities between mere fish food and God's word, but rather to prompt you to read the Bible when you need it most.

Psalm 12:1 says "Help Lord."  Charles Spurgeon writes on this verse that "The occasions for the use of this prayer are frequent...Spiritual warriors in inward conflicts may send to the throne for reinforcements.... Workers in heavenly labor may thus obtain grace in time of need.  Seeking sinners, in doubts and alarms, may offer up the same weighty supplication; in fact, in all these cases, times, and places, this will serve the turn of needy souls. "Help Lord", will suit the living and dying, suffering or laboring, rejoicing or sorrowing.  In Him our help is found, let us not be slack to cry on Him."



When did the Lord comfort you when you needed encouraged?  When are some of the times that the Lord has helped you?


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