In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. On the 5th day God created the creatures of the water and the birds of the air. On the 6th day he created the animals……and man.
He was pleased with His creation, and He called it all good.
He created man in His own image and gave them dominion over all the earth, over the creatures of the sea, the birds of the air and over every animal that lived upon the earth.
Dominion. That word we so often believe is to dominate something, to stand over it as it cowers beneath us. We do that well, but that is not what the Lord intended. He gave us authority, ruler-ship, stewardship, over the earth and all His creation. We created in His image should therefore exercise this authority as He would. We as a species fail utterly in so doing. Instead we crush the earth, we crush the creatures, we abuse our authority and wreak havoc and suffering upon our fellow man and upon God’s creation.
We read in God’s word the story of Balaam and of the donkey he rode upon. God was opposed to the thing that Balaam was about to do. The Angel of the Lord, a pre-incarnate representation of Christ, stood in the path to block Balaam’s way. But he was blind to this and when the little donkey he was riding upon stopped, Balaam became angry and beat her. Three times she refused to pass the path blocked by God, and three times he beat her without mercy. God in His compassion opened the mouth of the donkey and she spoke to Balaam saying “What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?” And then God opened Balaam’s eyes and he beheld that which the donkey had seen all along, the Angel of the Lord standing in the way with sword in hand, and Balaam bowed face down upon the ground and the Angel of the Lord said to Balaam, ““Why have you beaten your donkey these three times? I have come here to oppose you because your path is a reckless one before me.The donkey saw me and turned away from me these three times. If it had not turned away, I would certainly have killed you by now, but I would have spared it.”
God defends the little donkey.
Later on, in the New Testament, we read of the account of our Lord as he rides into Jerusalem upon the back of a donkey. We are told that this donkey was young and had never been ridden. Those of us who have had dealings with equines can tell you one thing true. One does not go and take hold of a young equine that has never had a person sit upon him, and take him and ride him in a parade. It just does not work out well for you, or for the equine, or for the folks standing along the parade route waving and shouting. But that is exactly what our Lord does. He sits down on this young donkey, who has never before carried a person and he ride’s into Jerusalem with throngs of people waving palm branches and casting them down upon the ground in front of the donkey and screaming Hosanna at the top of their lungs. And the donkey carries our Lord with grace and dignity……..the word does not speak on this, but it is obvious that the donkey knows exactly whom he carries.
The Bible does not say a lot about animals, but it does not need to. God stated that creation was good, it pleased Him, He stated that we were created in His image, to be like Him and that we were to care for creation. Really nothing more needs to be said. But there are a couple of things in the scriptures that shed more light on this subject.
Proverbs says “Whoever is righteous has regard for the life of his beast, but the mercy of the wicked is cruel.” And “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.”
Yet cruelty towards God’s creatures abounds. Both willful cruelty and ignorant cruelty exist in abundance.
We read in Romans of how the creation groans for deliverance, groans and cries out to God for deliverance.
In Genesis we read of how the blood of Abel, cried out to God from the ground. The first murder and the blood cried out, can you even imagine the cry that rises up to heaven each day now? We murder each other, and we crush the creation. These things ought not to be.
Each of us, who are called by Him, should look upon others, and upon the creatures of this world, as important to God. We should interact with the creatures of this world with love and with mercy. We should endeavor to care for the creation as people who are made in His image. Animals raised and slaughtered for food should be well cared for, and slaughtered as humanely as possible, giving thanks to the Lord for His provision. Animals slain for food in the hunt should be done so under the laws that protect their numbers and as quickly and humanely as possible, again with thanks for the provision provided.
Greed fuels cruelty. The desire to process more and more to fill the consumer who in most cases thinks nothing at all about where the food he or she is consuming comes from. As you fry up your hamburger tonight, thank God for the cow that died to provide it.
Christians should be about alleviating suffering, both in our fellow man and our fellow creatures. Just this past couple of months have brought to light some of the most grievous cruelty against helpless animals that I have ever witnessed in all my years. Dogs brutally sexually assaulted, dogs dragged behind vehicles until their toes and flesh were ripped off, suffering grievous wounds, dogs with their heads caved in by a shovel, walking about with terrible wounds, these but a handful of the thousands of stories out there untold. If you have no compassion for a helpless animal, how can you have compassion for your fellow man? Do not think for one moment that God looks down upon the wanton cruelty displayed across this world and thinks nothing.
No matter what we do, the creation will continue to cry out, continue to groan and wait for deliverance, but as children of God, we should be about lessening the suffering, of our fellow man and our fellow creatures until such time as the Lord makes all things right again.
Creation groans for deliverance.............
