SUBJECT:  Animals---compassion of

QUESTION:  Does God have compassion for animals?

ANSWER:

Yes He does.

I gave a sermonette that spoke to this subject.  It is one thing to say that man is on a higher plane than animals but this does not take away from the fact that God loves animals and would have us respect them.

In my sermonette, I used Psalm 8:4-5:

When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained; What is man, that thou art mindful of him? And the son of man, that thou visitest him?

My S.P.S. (Specific Purpose Statement) was, "I know that God is mindful of us because I know that God is mindful of animals."

I said that God loves animals and He shows great compassion for them.  Moreover, He desires that we too love animals and that we show compassion for them too.

In Genesis 1 we find that God made the animals and in verse 31 it says that He looked at everything He had made and said that it was good.  Indication is that He loved everything He saw.....including the animals.

In Exodus 20, the law is given to man but in verse 10 as He speaks about keeping the Sabbath, He says that animals will keep the Sabbath also.

Psalm 50 and verse 10 says...

For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.  I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.

God is making it clear that these animals are His.

Psalm 104 and verse 10 is about "God the Creator"...

He sendeth the springs into the valley, which run among the hills.  They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.  By them shall the fowls of heaven have their habitation, which sing among the branches.

Note how God is speaking about His animals.

Even better...turn over to Deuteronomy 32 and verse 10 which is God describing His love for His people Israel...

As an eagle stirreth up her next, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings.

God is here showing His feeling for man by using a metaphor of an animal that He loves...it's perfect.

Do you remember the account of Jonah and how he complained when God did not destroy Nineveh?:

He says in Jonah 4:11...the last verse of the whole book...

And should not I spare Nineveh, that great city, wherein are more then sixscore thousand persons that cannot discern between their right hand and their left hand; and also much cattle.

Notice that?  "And also much cattle".  Why would God mention them unless He had love and compassion for them?

Look at some specific animals God mentions...

Deuteronomy 25:4  Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

Matthew 10:29  ...and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father.  But the very hairs of your head are all numbered.  Fear ye not therefore, ye are of more value than many sparrows.

I stated that God wants us to have compassion for His animals.  Turn to Proverbs 12 and verse 10:

A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast.  The word "regardeth" has as a meaning "having a respect and affection for".

I finished my sermonette by stating that maybe I could show how God's regard for animals by showing some emotional instance of man's regard of animals.  I showed a clip from the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson.  In it, Jimmy Stewart reads a heartfelt poem about his dog Beau.  Even Johnny Carson was crying at the end.  It is the most requested clip from the Tonight Show in all history.

After I showed the film, and most there had tears in their eyes including myself, I asked, "If a man can feel that kind of emotion about his dog, how much more does your God feel about those same animals?  "And if He feels that way about His animals, how does He feel about you?"

Go back to the original verse...Psalms 8:4 "When I consider thy heavens, the work of thy fingers, the moon and the stars, which thou hast ordained;"

How would you handle or treat something that God had "ordained".  We cannot forget that everything belongs to God and we are mere caretakers here.

No, this argument about equality between man and animals is misleading and even sad.  It moves us from the real focus that God, the great God in heaven, is the creator and owner of this universe and all the animals that reside in it.  We should act accordingly...knowing this truth.

   
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