 Imagine seeing one of these at your doorstep when you wake up in the morning. The first thing you'd do is run as far away from it as possible. Lions are quite frightening, aren't they?  Now here’s a friendly face. Most Jamaicans, especially us females, shriek at the sight of a giant anole, more commonly known as the green lizard. I remember an incident where my cat brought one of these into my sister's room. She was scared. There are many animals that people fear; the ferocious animals of the wild, the harmful and harmless insects and even some common pets. Why are we afraid of them, though? Is it because of the potential harm that they could cause us? Is it because they are ugly and scary looking? Or perhaps their size in comparison to ours? As humans, it is our nature to fear the unknown, the strange, the dangerous—the things that could possibly lead to our demise. For example, we know if we fall from a high place, we could become severely injured or die. But what if when we fall from high places, nothing happens to us? Then maybe we wouldn't be afraid to dive off cliffs and buildings, knowing that we would be safe. I once heard somewhere that, "We are not afraid of heights, we are afraid of falling." I believe that the same thing applies to animals. We are afraid of them because of what they could possibly do to us. If lions, tigers, cheetahs, leopards, jaguars and other wild cats weren't man-slaughtering beasts, wouldn't you want to have one as a pet?
Look at how cute they are. But what about animals like lizards, frogs, cats, birds, dogs and mice or the little spider in the corner of your house, the crabs and fish at the beach. For the most part, they aren’t really that dangerous. These animals rarely attack—it’s just a matter of staying out of their way. Why do we fear the tiniest insect crawling across the floor or flying across the room? The earliest record of humans being afraid originated in the Garden of Eden when God confronted Adam about eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge of good and evil (Genesis 3:10). So, fear is a result of sin. Sin also resulted in wild behaviour, the poison and danger of animals. You know, fear is mental. It starts in the mind. There is a little girl who once visited my family and shrieked every time she saw our cat. She worried that it'd scratch her so, she became afraid of it, but then her friend led her to the cat and, she petted it. Then she started going around the cat more,, realizing that it wasn't so scary after all. 2Timothy 1:7 says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Fear is not a part of our original design. We can be strong in the face of the animals we fear remembering the words of Psalm 27:1, “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" In the beginning, all animals were created as tame as a spoiled household cat. I would love to be in a place where I could give a bear a bear-hug and swim with sharks, race with cheetahs etc. Remember, God made all of these animals. Personally, I love almost all kinds because I know that they were created by Him. I love learning about them and their nature because it is fascinating. All of the animals, whether sea creature, land animal or insect are all majestic in their own aspects. You can find beauty in even what most would consider hideous.
If you look closely, the animals that we call scary and ugly are nothing to be afraid of at all. I'm not saying that means you should stand in front of a dangerous animal and put yourself in harm's way. What I'm saying is that you don't have to be afraid because God is with you. And it is because you have Him with you why you don't need to be afraid. Keep on reading to learn more to help you be more like a jewel on God´s crown ¨ The LORD their God will save his people on that day as a shepherd saves his flock. They will sparkle in his land like jewels in a crown.¨ Zechariah 9:16 NIV AuthorRadhieka Henry
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AuthorMy name is Serena Richards and I, along with other helpful contributors, and of course the inspiration of God have written these posts as a source of help FOR YOU <3 Archives
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