“God blessed them and said to them, ‘be fruitful and increase in number: fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that moves on the ground’.” Genesis 1:28 NIV

We spent all of yesterday in an emergency clinic for pets because our pet suffered a freak accident and had to go into surgery. Nearly $600 and eight hours later we arrived home with a heavily sedated, patched up pup who was wearing an Elizabethan collar. There was not a moment’s hesitation in making the decision to have him properly treated. This started me wondering what the Bible has to say about pets. I couldn’t come up with any verse that addressed this in a straightforward dialogue.

Since God created man in His own image, this would imply that man is to be loving and compassionate in his behavior toward every living thing and that would include love and compassion for our pets. There are many words synonymous with subdue: curb, suppress, master, overcome, tame. Alternative words for rule are harness, rein, govern and prevail.
So from the beginning of creation we have been directed by God to subdue and rule over all living creatures. Man, in his sinful heart, has devised to use living animals as “sport” or “entertainment” by training them to fight each other until the most stalwart remains standing. I don’t believe God will deal kindly with neither these individuals nor the spectators that gather, calling for blood.
God gave us sanction from the get-go to have authority over animals and to care for them – care for them! “A righteous man cares for the needs of his animal, but the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.” Proverbs 12:10 NIV

If we possess any godly wisdom at all it will affect every aspect of our lives, including how we treat all of God’s creation. Is how we treat our pets a reflection on how we treat humans as well? Make no mistake, God is watching you and me and everyone around us. We must be careful in this role of love for pets; it is not meant to surpass the love of our human counterparts. As in everything we do, it must be done with balance.

Rabindranath Tagore (1861-1941), poet, social reformer and philosopher was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913. The title to one excerpt from The Heart of God is “A Question To God” and it goes like this:

“Age after age, O God, You have sent Your messengers into this pitiless world, who have left their word: “Forgive all. Love all. Cleanse your hearts from the blood-red stains of hatred.”

“Adorable are they, ever to be remembered; yet from the outer door, I have turned them away today – this evil day – with unmeaning salutation.

“Have I not seen secret malignance strike down the helpless under the cover of hypocritical might?
Have I not heard the silenced voice of justice weeping in solitude at might’s defiant outrages?

“Have I not seen in what agony reckless youth, running mad, has vainly shattered its life against insensitive rocks?

“Choked is my voice, mute are my songs today, and darkly my world lies imprisoned in a dismal dream; and I ask You O God, in tears, “Have you, Yourself forgiven, have even You loved those who are poisoning Your air and blotting out Your light?”

Tagore must have been experiencing the same defeat most Christians feel today regarding the callous evil that appears to have a vice grip on our nation. Read the verse from Proverbs again, “the kindest acts of the wicked are cruel.”

LORD, give me sensibility and calm. Show me the way to be a positive influence on those who have not received YOU. Guide my words and behavior in ways that are pleasing to YOU. In JESUS name I pray, Amen