This week, I read an interesting and thought-provoking article titled “The animals that detect disasters” on the BBC’s Future Planet site.
Written by Norman Miller and posted Feb. 14, 2022, the in-depth article explored the possibility that alarmed animal behavior could be signals of impending natural disasters like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami which killed at least 225,000 people across a dozen countries.
Miller writes: “. . .in the minutes and hours before surging walls of water up to 9 m (30 ft) high smashed through coastlines, some animals seemed to sense impending peril and make efforts to flee. According to eyewitness accounts, elephants ran for higher ground, flamingos abandoned low-lying nesting areas, and dogs refused to go outdoors. In the coastal village of Bang Koey in Thailand, locals reported a herd of buffalo by the beach suddenly pricking their ears, gazing out to sea, then stampeding to the top of a nearby hill a few minutes before the tsunami struck.”
Those eyewitnesses survived because they heeded the animals’ signs and fled inland.
The article made me ponder: Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we, as Christians, had some sort of internal warning systems that alerted us to danger or sin in advance, so that we could avoid it? Then, I realized we already have that internal warning system!
It’s God’s inspired word in the Bible that teaches us how to avoid all kinds of danger and sin. We only have to study Scripture to know how to avoid and, yes, even run away from danger.
I John 2:15-17 (ESV)
“Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not him. For all that is in the world – the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride in possessions – is not from the Father but it from the world. And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.”
Matthews 24:42 (KJV)
“Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.”
I Thessalonians 5:22 (ESV)
“Abstain from every form of evil.”
Be encouraged.