What are you afraid of?

Jeremiah 1:6-7
⁶ “Alas, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am too young.”
 ⁷ But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am too young.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. ⁸ Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD.

Exodus 4:10-15
¹⁰ Moses said to the LORD, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”  ¹¹ The LORD said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the LORD? ¹² Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
 ¹³ But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”
 ¹⁴ Then the LORD’s anger burned against Moses and he said, “What about your brother, Aaron the Levite? I know he can speak well. He is already on his way to meet you, and he will be glad to see you. ¹⁵ You shall speak to him and put words in his mouth; I will help both of you speak and will teach you what to do.

These are just two of many examples in the Bible of two people who were afraid of speaking. Public speaking. I often wonder, how can these people be afraid of speaking to men, when they have spoken directly to God!? How? You can speak to the most powerful being ever, but you can't speak to a few people in a crowd. That is insane.

The top ten list of things people are afraid of is below. Look carefully. People would rather do the things at the top than they would the things at the bottom of the list.

10. Dogs
Because of all the dog attacks that are on the news and such, people are naturally afraid of them. I certainly can understand this, as I myself have often been intimidated by a dog. You don't want to be eaten, or knocked down. So you run away.

9. Loneliness
Personally, I think this one deserves a spot higher on the list. Loneliness should be feared more than it is. But because most people aren't lonely (even though they think they may be) this gets bumped into 9th place. And that leaves a gap for those of us who are lonely people.

8. Flying
I can't say much about being afraid to fly since I've only flown once in my life. And I was 2. :) I'd love to fly now though just to experience it. And I'm sure I will one day.
But once again, I can understand why people wouldn't want to fly after 9/11.

7. Death
Do you know what this means? People would rather DIE than live through 1-6. Keep that in mind.

6. Sickness
No one likes to be sick. But to fear being sick more than death? Seriously! That's like killing yourself.

5. Deep Water
I'm not much help when it comes to water. I love water. I love deep water. I love lakes. I love pools. I hate the ocean. haha..only because of sharks, and salt water...and sand. But I would love to go scuba diving.

4. Financial problems
Yep, everyone's afraid of that. People would rather die than be poor.

3. Insects and bugs
No comment.

2. Heights
I am extremely afraid of heights. I get really dizzy and if there's nothing to hold onto, I may fall over. Does that stop me? haha..nope.

1. Speaking in public
And lastly, PUBLIC SPEAKING IS THE NUMBER ONE FEAR IN THE WORLD. People would rather stand on top of the empire state building, be covered in bugs, live in poverty, jump into deep water, be sick, DIE, fly in a plane, be alone for the rest of their life, AND be attacked by a dog, than get up in front of a group of people and SPEAK.

And WHY?

One word: JUDGMENT

Everyone is afraid of what the next person thinks. Don't deny it. You know it's true. You care how your hair looks, if you stuttered, if you didn't clearly make your point, if you missed a vital part of the story. Lalalalala. So on and so on.
OMG what if I messed up??? What if I trip? What if...what if...God forbid..what if I say something stupid or funny and they don't laugh!?
If NONE of those thoughts have ever gone through your head during a speaking engagement, then you must be extremely confident in everything. And good for you. Just too bad that you're alone in that way of thinking.

This post was inspired by speech class last thursday.
And yes, I am working on 3 other posts right now. So bear with me.