Our recently-adopted dog, Kia, has some interesting fears.

She is afraid of thunder, of fireworks, of the poppers they use in local vineyards to keep the birds from the ripe fruit. She is afraid of garbage trucks and city buses. She is afraid of groups of children, or any crowd for that matter! She is afraid of barking dogs and dog parks,.. The list could go on. I suppose that many of them are common to the world of canines, but this doesn’t make them rational…

Take, for example, her Zuigerphobia: She is deathly afraid of the vacuum cleaner!

Being a dog that we rescued, we have no idea what her background is. Maybe she endured some sort of abuse that involved a vacuum cleaner. We have absolutely no way of knowing. All we know is that our strong, beautiful, 35 kg dog is reduced to a shivering mass of dog fur, looking to hide wherever and whenever she can, as soon as she sees the vacuum. My wife doesn’t even have to be using it! All it takes is for it to come upstairs!

It is kind of funny the places she tries to hide. To name just a few, she will try to crawl in the closet. It doesn’t matter that her back end sticks out; she will try to squeeze herself between the toilet and the wall of the bathroom; she will force her way behind furniture, etc.

Have you ever seen a dog “tiptoe”? As soon as that vacuum is out, she is up on the tips of her toes, slinking along with her chest near the ground. We aren’t sure how she manages to drag her belly and still be on tiptoes at the same time, but it must be possible, for she does it! She thinks no one sees her as she slinks from room to room trying to get away from the machine…

The most interesting thing to me, however, is given her fear of the vacuum, something that really couldn’t hurt her, is her lack of fear of the lawnmower, something that could potentially cut off a toe!

I would like to say that I’m someone without irrational fears. I mean, it is irrational to not be afraid of heights in my book. And literally everyone should be claustrophobic! I sure wish my wife had a little of those two fears! She makes me lose years off my life every time she climbs up on a ladder, every time she gets into a tiny space to do some work!

Okay so maybe I could relate to a page from Kia’s book… Maybe not all of my fears are truly rational… And there are probably things I’m not afraid of that I really should be! Maybe I should have a bit more fear of being wrongly influenced by movies and books, etc.

Don’t get me wrong. Fear is a God-given emotion, designed to help us know when we should turn around and … run! Most of us, however, have plenty of fears that are probably considered “irrational” in God’s book. Meanwhile, we are probably not afraid of things that could actually hurt us… Is it any wonder that God’s word is so full of suggestions for things we shouldn’t do? Take sexual immorality, as an example. This is something we should all turn and flee! It should raise our “rational” fear level to maximum! And as a result, the Bible has much to say about sexual immorality and provides plenty of suggestions for avoiding it.

The Bible also has plenty to say about irrational fear. Things like, “So do not fear, for I am with you; do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.”  (Is. 41:10 NIV). As a matter of fact, it has been said that there is a suggestion against fear for every day of the year!

God even goes so far s to tell us, “There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.” (1 John 4:18 NIV)

It means that God loves us so perfectly that there is no reason to fear! Our fears an an indication that we have not fully embraced God’s perfect love for us! It shows that we do not yet trust Him to protect us!

If we break this down a bit farther, I would like to suggest that for most of us, our biggest fears are aimed at the unknown. We worry about what will — or won’t — happen in the future, when the future hasn’t even yet come to be. In essence, we are like Kia who gets scared even at the sight of the vacuum, even when she doesn’t know if it will run or not! We worry most about the things that may never come to be!

You know what I mean… My boss hates me. What if I lose my job? How will I support my family? I will lose my house, my car. If I can’t support my family, my wife might leave me…. etc. Meanwhile, your boss may actually not even hate you, and even if he does, it may not mean losing your job! And even if you lose your job, you could find another, better one. You could live off savings for a couple months so as to not lose your house and car. And perhaps you need to put more faith in your wife’s vows to love you through thick and thin!

Meanwhile, Jesus is saying, “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” (Matthew 11:28-29 NIV). He is also reminding us, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear…And why do you worry about clothes? See how the flowers of the field grow. They do not labor or spin…So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them…Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself.” (Matthew 6:25, 28, 31, 34 NIV).

You see, Jesus knows our propensity to have irrational fears, and He has the cure: “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well.” (Matthew 6:33 NIV).

When we make seeking God’s kingdom our biggest worry, then there is no room for the irrational kind! So in times when we are tempted to fear, let’s remember Kia and her irrational fear of the presence of the vacuum cleaner! Let’s remember Jesus’ admonition to seek His kingdom rather than worry! For when we do, we will be adding years of stress-free happiness to our lives!

Now if I could just get Kia to understand that she needs to give her Zuigerphobia — her fear of the vacuum — to Jesus … She would be a lot less stressed on cleaning day!

Inspired by Rob Chaffart
Founder, Answers2Prayer Ministries