Fearless as a skunk? No weapon fashioned against us shall prosper
Nothing is supposed to be potent enough to frighten us
“We click on the revenge icons on our life toolbars instead of the repentance and forgiveness icons that remain unused…”
Sometimes when I ponder on God’s creation I am extremely amazed at the natural defense skills He instilled in us. It’s not just the talents; it’s also the physical abilities of both flora and fauna, human and animal species to defend themselves against adversity. Even the minute ants have a way to say “no” to the enemy. I’m awed beyond imagination. The natural defenses such as our feet used to run away from trouble, our mouths used to defend ourselves during false accusations, our nostrils to smell foul odours such as gas leakages and hence curb impending disasters are part of the repertoire. The porcupine is smaller than the elephant and weaker than the lion but its spikes keep the threat of predators away. Tiny as they are, dare to touch their hives or sap their honey and you would find out in no time that size doesn’t matter all the time. The bees would get busy on you in self defense and they never fight a battle with the intention to lose. Oh well, invention has provided bee farmers with alternative weapons like “harmless” sprays to numb the bees and make them fall asleep while the honey is harvested. I’ve watched the Bee Movie and seen their protest against unfair treatment but somehow the honey needs to flow for that’s the law of nature so I’ll leave that debate as is.
Let’s talk survival. Even in the jungle where survival is reserved for the fittest, God made it possible for some animals to be prey in order to keep the smooth functioning of the food chain. In spite of the role God designed for all these animals – wild beasts, domestic pets and urban pests alike, they always find a way to survive using the natural defenses God allocated each of them. Man being the most intelligent and privileged of the mammals, has been able to use his intellect and repertoire of resources to fashion weapons such as guns, bombs, and poison to terminate others considered to be threats to his existence. Man is able to bring down an entire village in one minute and equally able to bring down an entire wildlife reserve in no time.
About all the weapons designed to destroy predators, I have come to a couple of conclusions: 1) The one who succeeds in bringing down the other, before others is no different from the so-called jungle predators, even if their prey is not served for dinner. 2) There are some preys that have made it to the top of the charts as powerful, mighty, and as a trigger to our senses even without the backing of the Holy Spirit (Zachariah 4:6).
These elegant looking but hygienically abominable species are none other than the skunk. If you are an animal lover and a pet fanatic, you would want to cuddle them, stroke their beautiful tails and just carry them home to keep the kids company. Your family might love the idea but the pretty skunk would surely have other plans for you.
My encounter with a skunk
If you’ve seen them you know what I’m talking about. Seeing them is one thing and smelling them is yet another. Don’t even ask me if I’ve ever tried to pick one up. You could try and it might not run away, and there’s a reason for such fearlessness – Brother Skunk would take its time, do a catwalk, striding majestically, giving you the illusion of vulnerability and total surrender. If your nickname is LUCKY, maybe Sister Skunk would let you approach her as close as 10 metres before setting off the harmless atomic bomb that smells worse than death. Unlike the bee farmers who’ve found a way to avoid bee-stings, I am still waiting for an anti-skunk smell remedy. To prove my point I’d suggest someone with no sense of smell have a real encounter with the skunk. This might just be the time for their nasal breakthrough. The hungriest lion would rather starve.
When a skunk is struck down by a car, everyone driving that road pays the price. So this tells me the skunk is powerful, mighty and mind busting before, during and even after its death as I experienced on Monday August 17, 2012 as I was driving home from work on the intersection of Sandalwood and Kennedy Road in Brampton, Ontario … I needed no explanation that a skunk had passed that way. It took me five minutes westbound before noticing the carcass of the animal in the middle of the road – the animal that had pre-announced its presence loud enough without uttering a word.
I glanced briefly at the faces of the drivers of passing vehicles: no one seemed to be enjoying the naturally designed perfume spray. I drove on, praying to almighty God that the traffic would just move a little faster for me to get back into normal air. I’m sure everyone else felt the same way but I can only speak for myself. I was trapped in an already sealed car; alas the AC was of no help to me! Opening the car windows as an air-exchange tactic would have meant leaping out of the Red Sea back into the arms of Pharaoh. I had a choice at least to deal with it and pray on for better minutes ahead.
We have a choice 
That was not the first time I’d had a skunk moment with that invisible weapon of smell. Although it was not created in God’s image, this animal is truly a beautiful work of God’s creation no doubt. All the animals, big and small, ferocious and meek, venomous and nutritive are equally part of God’s creation. On the other hand, human species are the ones with the intelligence to conceive goodness and disregard evil yet unlike the skunk, we are evil even without cause. We click on the revenge icons on our life toolbars instead of the repentance and forgiveness icons that remain unused and often get deactivated eventually.
The bottom-line of my message today is that the human race is such a beautiful masterpiece of God’s creation especially as one fashioned to represent Him. With such a birthright we are heirs to supernaturally enforced defense weapons from the spirit realm totally allocated, supervised and refined by God the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. These weapons are always in conflict with, and should never be mistaken for Satan’s unpleasant and unfavourable skunk-like defenses – the same Satan whose duty is to instill fear and then cause distraction so he could accomplish his triple mission to steal, kill and destroy (John 10:10) by paralyzing our God given defenses when we unconsciously grant him control.
Nothing is supposed to be potent enough to frighten, let alone subdue us when we have God on our side. This means even death is unable to render us vulnerable (Romans 8:37-39). Jesus had conquered death so we may now live life in all its fullness (John 10:10, once again) preparing us for an even more blissful life after death.
At this juncture I won’t keep you wondering why I chose this discussion.
Isaiah 54: 17 says: “No weapon formed against you shall prosper,
And every tongue which rises against you in judgment
You shall condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the LORD,
And their righteousness is from Me,” says the LORD (NKJV).
If no weapon fashioned against me can prosper I believe it means God has insured my life to my benefit even after death. I was made in the image of God and I believe in His rod and staff protecting me, keeping me safe even through the valley of the shadow of death (Psalm 23).
Now here is my point: the skunk goes everywhere and fears no evil; it walks through the valley of the shadow of death and fears no evil; it dares to cross the traffic and sometimes fearlessly makes it to the other side despising heavyweight trucks and over-speeding vehicles. Sometimes it doesn’t make it to the other side of the road like the protagonist who inspired me to write this story today.
I can tell that the dead skunk died a martyr and is probably a saint in the heaven for animals (if there exists one). Yes the skunk could just be a smelly little animal but it sure got the attention of a writer and will now make news on a reputed magazine called DUNIA. It is still important. Even I with all my born-again faith and courage would never dare to sneak through traffic else I arrive heaven prematurely. If the skunk can be so fearless, why should humans be so fearful? So, I urge readers to remember to “fear not” as they go through life.
by LIA
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Irine Lum Asanji (aka LIA) is a freelance writer and journalist based in Brampton, Canada. Born and raised in Cameroon the daughter and sister of Pastors, LIA immigrated to Canada in 2006. She holds an undergraduate degree in Journalism (University of Buea, Cameroon) and a postgraduate degree in Visual Anthropology (University of Tromso, Norway). She has worked as a journalist and Communication Officer with the Presbyterian Church in Cameroon (PCC). LIA recently designed and launched a website talktolia.com geared towards Marriage and Family enrichment services, which serves as her ministry and her private business. She is an employee with Broan-Nutone Canada and became born-again in 2011 making her more evangelistic in her approach to writing. She speaks English, French, German and Norwegian. She is a mother of two and enjoys singing, cooking, dancing and a good laugh. She writes under her name and her pen name LIA which also means Lord Is Able.
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Also by LIA
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