bananas

So, the other day, my chinchilla escaped.

Hey where is she going with this?

I had not realized that the door was not shut all the way, and his little (and surprisingly strong) chinchilla face just pushed it open. So, here we are, sitting in bible study and this giant rodent starts bouncing down the hall (and my cat after him). I rush down the hall and shut the door, so he is at least safe in the room. Now, up to this point, apart from some food I’d give him, my chinchilla was a jerk to me and often bit me for no reason. I loved him, but he was a big fat fuzzy gluttonous jerk. So, at this point, he’s bouncing around and I’m just thinking about how he’s going to be so awful to me when I try to rescue him. But then I saw how afraid he was. I, with a help of a friend, picked him up and he was surprisingly calm. I think he realized how much he needed me. It took a terrifying escape and brush with death (via the cat trying to make food of him) for him to realize how much he needed me.

Now get this. 

Aren’t we just like my gluttonous jerky chinchilla sometimes, in our relationship with God?

Like we just chilllin (or chinchillin AM I RIGHT) eating bananas (my chinchillas favorite food just FYI- not really relevant to the point here, but I thought I’d share) and getting dust baths (chinchillas can’t use water to bathe because they will grow mold) and loving life. God’s like here are all these blessings and we just sit back and want nothing to do with him apart from what he can give us. Then, something scary happens, we’re out of our comfortable banana-filled comfort zones, and we panic. We don’t fight God anymore because we realize our need for Him. 

Doesn’t that seem so terribly backwards?

“Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” – Hebrews 13:8

“But you remain the same, and your years will never end.” – Psalm 102:27

“For I the LORD do not change…” - Malachi 3:6

In other words, just because your situation changes, does not mean God does.

HE NEVER WILL.

This is what we do all the time. We like to add our own little side notes to this verse: 

God is the same yesterday and today and forever*

*with stipulations like when I don’t get exactly what I want or like things are going poorly or like where are my bananas (this is more of a chinchilla problem)

She keeps bringing up that chinchilla thing. It’s getting a little out of hand.

So what does the Bible say about how we should handle these hard times?

“Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in ALL circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Philippians 4:4

(Like how often is Paul writing this stuff from prison? Like A LOT. Four of the books of the New Testament were written while Paul was imprisoned in Rome- Philippians, Colossians, Ephesians, Philemon. Think about the implications of that.)

Wait, come again? Rejoice? ALWAYS? In ALL circumstances? 

Exactly.

But what are we rejoicing in? 

Rejoice in THE LORD- it says. (not in our circumstances, not in the temporary) 

HE is our joy.

“For you are our glory and joy.” 1 Thessalonians 2:20

“The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend who attends the bridegroom waits and listens for him, and is full of joy when he hears the bridegroom's voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.” 
John 3:29

He gave us that joy because He gave us Himself!! 
Our Joy in him is COMPLETE. 
(aka we don’t need bananas to be happy, ya’ll)

Like we get it, you like feeding fruits to your exotic rodents.

So, since we know that God is never changing, never-ending, we know that we can ALWAYS have full and complete joy in the Lord. ALWAYS. 

Now, this does not mean that we are supposed to put on this façade that everything is okay all the time. That will only break you further. 

(the church is much too quick to assume this is some sort of solution)

“We are treated as impostors, and yet are true; 9 as unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and behold, we live; as punished, and yet not killed; 10 as sorrowful, yet always rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, yet possessing everything.” 2 Corinthians 5

Joy and sorrow can coexist (as this verse points out).

It's in that sorrow or those times when we’re scared and escape from our comfy cage, we can know that our joy in Christ is full and complete.