Insecurity
The Lion Who Believed He Was a Sheep – (A children’s story or is it?)
One day a farmer was walking back from the forest. He came across a little lion cub.He brought the lion cub back home, gave it milk, water, and some food. He didn’t know what to do with it, so he put it in a sheep pen with all the sheep that he had. Every day this kept happening. The farmer would give him food, play with him a little bit and then when the time came, he would put the little cub back in the sheep pen. As time passed the little cub grew bigger and bigger and started going out in the fields, playing with the sheep, and playing with the lambs.One day, a big lion came out of the jungle. And when the sheep heard the roar, they all scrambled, hiding wherever they could. They were terribly afraid. The lion that had grown up with the sheep also did the same. The big lion stepped out of the forest seeing this little lion trying to hide. He came over to him and said, “Why are you hiding?” The little lion said “You will eat me.” The big lion said, “I am not going to eat you. Do you know who you are? Do you know that you are not a sheep, you are a lion.” “Whatever”, said the little lion. “Whatever you say is fine with me, but please don’t eat me.” Having seen that this lion was not going to be convinced, the big lion took the little lion to a lake. Then he said, “Look at yourself, look at this reflection and see what you see.” The little lion stared at the water confused. Slowly, he began to see the resemblance. He touched his mane, his strong paws, and felt a stirring deep within him. Timidly, he let out a roar. At first, it was weak and shaky, but when he tried again, it grew stronger. Then the little lion looked at his reflection and said, “I am like you. Not like them.” The big lion said, “Right, you are a lion. That is your true voice. That is who you are. Remember it!” The little lion eagerly responded, “Oh thank you, thank you, thank you so much.” And the big lion said, “Why are you thanking me? I didn’t do anything. All I did, is show you who you already are. I didn’t create something new here. I didn’t take a sheep and turn it into a lion. I merely showed you that you are a lion, not a sheep.”
Recently, I came across this children’s story and let’s face it, we are all like the little lion who thought he was a sheep until someone showed us differently. Discovering who you truly are can turn fear into courage and silence into a roar. At times the enemy challenges us to forget who we are and who God is. A touch of spiritual amnesia sets in, our identity is shaken, and for a time we might lose sight of our true self.Our identity is who we understand ourselves to be at the core. It’s our essential self. Or it’s what we want to believe, and want others to believe, is our essential self, even if it’s not who we really are. So where does our sense of identity come from? This is the crucial question. Our identity determines whether or not we will ever be free from being insecure. When people are insecure, they express it in very different ways, depending on their temperament, values, and habits, which are often shaped by past experiences. In some, insecurity looks like meekness, compliance, and always assuming blame. In others, insecurity looks like bravado, defiance, and never admitting wrong. In one person, insecurity causes them to avoid attention. In another, it moves them to demand as much attention as possible. We’re all familiar with insecurity, but what’s making us feel this way, and how do we get free from it?
We know that we can “know” the right answer, but at times lose sight of the “right” answer. We typically respond from our heart, because our identity is tied into what we really love, what we really want, and what we really believe offers us hope. We may say our God is the Lord, but for some that may not really be true. “The Lord says: ‘These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.’” (Isaiah 29:13). Our God is the person or thing we believe has the greatest power to determine who we are, why we’re here, what we should do, and what we’re worth. So, when we feel insecure because something threatens our sense of identity, it is telling us something about our God. Who do you believe has the greatest power to determine who you are and what you are worth? That is your God. Is it the true God, the living God, or is your god an idol. Can varying circumstances momentarily shift your view of who your God or “god” is? Can certain circumstances make us insecure in who God is to us? I can believe Him for this but not for that. Our response to insecurity may often be avoidance. We try to reduce our exposure to people, or we try to appease our insecurity by seeking affirmation from others, or we try to escape into other things, perhaps addictive things, that dull or distract our identity-fear, at least temporarily. These behaviors are almost always pain-killers, not cures. They do nothing to address our identity-related fear. God designed insecurity to be examined in order that we might escape danger. That’s why insecurity can be a mercy, although it almost never feels like a mercy. Rather, it feels like inadequacy or failure or condemnation. It weighs us down and makes us feel vulnerable and uncertain. One might call this kind of insecurity a “God-gauge”. Insecurity is a form of fear. It’s reporting to us that something is wrong with what we think or believe about God or that there is some other god telling us about who we are. Either a true belief is being challenged or refined, or a false belief is being exposed. At times, God does mean for certain things to make us feel insecure. Example: In a hurricane, if the house walls begin to shake and tiles are flying off the roof, we should feel insecure and move from our location. God designed this kind of insecurity as a warning that we are vulnerable to danger. It instructs us to take protective action. But what we typically mean by insecure is not just a circumstantial fear, but a fear so recurrent that it becomes our state of being. There is a lack of self-confidence, or a fear of others’ disapproval or rejection, or a sense of inferiority. Our identity is uncertain or threatened. Often we tend to avoid, block it out, rather than examine our insecurity. We fear taking a good look at our identity because the gauge might confirm our worst fears about ourselves, that we are inadequate, insignificant, a failure, or condemned. Insecurity almost never feels like a mercy from God, but it is often saying something we desperately need to hear, to examine and lay before God. Avoiding insecurity will not free us from it. God wants us to examine it, even though we fear doing so. We must not listen to our fears, for they don’t tell us the truth. If we come to Jesus with our insecurity, laying it before Him, desiring to repent, he says to us:* I will not condemn you (John 8:10)* Come to me, and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28).* My love for you is steadfast (Psalm 103:17).* I will fill you with peace that surpasses understanding (Philippians 4:6–7).* You shelter me and lift me up (Psalm 27:5).There is an end to insecurity and the strife it produces. Insecurity ends in Jesus. Let us bring our little lion insecurities to the water of His Spirit, take a good look at our reflection, stand strong, and roar forth His promises for…“We are as He is in The World!” (1John 4:17)
Blessings,
Karen