Moment of Meditation: Fear and Dread (Genesis 9:2)

The fear of you and the dread of you shall be upon every beast of the earth and upon every bird of the heavens, upon everything that creeps on the ground and all the fish of the sea. Into your hand they are delivered. Genesis 9:2 “It is more afraid of you than you are of it.” You’ve heard these words about almost any scary creature that has crawled or slithered near you. You probably didn’t believe those words. But these words have a ring of truth. The animals are afraid of us. This fear was first placed on them at the Fall, when sin broke the natural relation between man and beast. The fear is now upgraded to dread. Why the upgrade? The dominion given to Adam in the very beginning is broken down into a desire for domination. We can hunt animals for food, but some hunt only for sport. We can train animals to be helpful to those with disabilities, but some train them for the circus. We can patiently domesticate them to be pets, but some quickly seek to squash them into submission. As God’s image-bearers, we fear what is also afraid of us. However, Jesus promises us life everlasting where fear and dread are gone. Love and honor will be restored. Amen.