How God Displays His Love Through Our Pets

God's LovePets

Jun 2

His stare bore through me.

As I turn from my laptop and confront the culprit, I am met with doe-like brown eyes created to melt hearts.

These eyes belong to our dog Dutch, my husband’s bird dog.

His sad eyes betray his disapproval of the separation – the boundary between him and my workspace. His countenance threatens to collapse in a pool of tears should a pat on the head not quickly commence.

After a time, he surrenders and slowly slides into a lying position at the door.

While he doesn’t cry out, his desire for connection is palpable.

We see God in all of His creation, but there is something extra special about our pets.

While God is not to be compared to an animal, but He, like our pets, does desire our time and attention.

After all, this is why we were created – to know, love, and enjoy God, bring Him glory, and make Him known to others.

Here are some of God’s attributes we see in our beloved companions:

He waits

God doesn’t force us to love or be with Him. He holds out an amazing gift of salvation and allows us to take it - or leave it.

Like the father of the prodigal son, He loves us so much He waits – He longs – for us to come to Him on our own, not out of coercion.

Why else would He have gone to a horrific death on the cross for each one of us?

And like our animals He waits to be with us, to connect. He waits to give us peace and a respite when we come to Him and place all our worries and concerns in His very capable loving arms.

And when we spend time with someone we care about, including our pets, we boost levels of oxytocin – the feel-good hormone.

Our Heavenly Father deserves all our love, affection, and adoration. He is after all God. He has done everything, we bring nothing!

He is patient

We all know how hard it is to wait. Maybe that’s why some Scripture versions say the Lord is longsuffering.

Second Peter 3:9 tells us God is patient, doesn’t want anyone to perish, but for all to come to Him in repentance.

Our pets are patient too (until he sees the leash ; )).

Not coming to the Lord for salvation until 26 years of age, I thank God for His patience with me!

He is loving

My dog always approaches us with a loving demeanor and wagging tail. He carries the expectation of being loved in return. He never charges after me growling to bite or keep something from me.

God is love and perfect love drives out all fear (1 John 4:8,18). We are to have a reverent fear of God and be in awe. Not a fear of hurt or pain.

He loves us so much that while we were still sinners, He sent His only Son to die for us (Romans 5:8). An amazing gift none of us deserve.

He comforts

Some pets have an intuitive gift – they can sense when we are distraught and nuzzle up to comfort us. Some dogs can even detect cancer!

Jesus said the Holy Spirit is our Advocate, Helper, and ultimate Comforter (John 14:26).

The book of second Corinthians tells us He is the God of all comfort and comforts the downcast. 1:3-5, 7:6

Our pets comfort and help us as well.

They are wonderful companions and have been shown to reduce anxiety, loneliness, and depression, and can even help lower blood pressure!

His love is unconditional

God has infused His unconditional love into our pets. We may have had a bad day, done or said something we shouldn’t have but God – and our pet – still love and delight in us.

God will never reject or turn His back on us when we come to Him with a broken and repentant heart (Psalm 51:17, Hebrews 13:5).

We may feel we have gone too far and God would never want a relationship with us. This is a lie!

God loves us just as we are. We don’t have to “clean up” to come back to Him. We are expected to repent of our sins and live a God-honoring life, but He never stops loving us.

So the next time we enjoy our pet, may all those good feelings direct us to worship the Lover of our souls.

How about you? Is a pet a part of your family and how do they enrich your life?