The godly are concerned
for the welfare of their animals, Proverbs 12:10a (NLT)
Time and time again, the kids in
Pupperville were getting plowed over by one extra large dog named
Muffy. Time and time again, the kids in Pupperville had wanted Harold
to play with them but he was too busy chasing an extra large dog
named Muffy, and now the time had come for somebody to do something
about it.
It was Barney that had secretly sent
out notices of a meeting at his house to discuss plans on how to fix
the problem of Muffy and soon the meeting would start. Stella,
Harold’s sister, was the first to arrive and was she ever ready to
do something about Muffy. “Does Harold suspect anything yet?”
Barney asked her. “I don’t think so.” Stella answered.
“What don’t you think?” asked
Tracy as she arrived. “I don’t think Harold suspects anything,”
Stella replied. “I don’t think he does either,” Tracy said with
a big smile, “And I don’t think we should have to worry about him
or Muffy the rest of the day.”
“Perfect!” Barney said “Where is
he?” “Well,” Tracy started to answer, “He went back on his
promise to take me to a movie.” “That’s right!” Stella
interrupted, “He chickened out because they wouldn’t let Muffy in
the theatre.” “” Tracy continued, “And, because he broke his
promise he’ll be cleaning my dad’s barn the rest of the day.”
“Do you think we should wait for
others to come or should we start the meeting?” Barney asked once
he knew Harold wouldn’t be around. “Let’s get started!” Tracy
and Stella answered back in unison. “Yeah,” Tracy continued, “We
need to put a woof on all of Muffy’s mess ups.” “I think every
one including Harold has trouble with Muffy.” Stella added “And
we need to get rid of Muffy for our sakes and Harold’s.”
“He’s been chewing and drooling on
all my favorite toys.” Stella told the group. “He dug up all of
the flowers I planted.” Tracy added. And not to be left out, Barney
told them how Muffy always knocks him down and sits on him every time
he goes to Harold’s to play and how Harold never has time to play
with him because he has to go catch Muffy.
“Let’s lose him in the forest.”
Tracy said “Good idea,” Stella told her, “But first we need to
do to him what he does to us.” “You mean bury him and jump on
him?” Barney asked. “Yeah!” replied Stella, “And kick him a
few times so he’ll never want to come back.” “Sounds great.”
Tracy told them, “I’ve got the dog whistle, so let’s go do it
before Harold gets done cleaning the barn.
Proverbs 12:10 says The godly are
concerned for the welfare of their animals, but even the kindness of
the wicked is cruel (NLT) Maybe the kids should have read this
verse before they decided to be mean to Muffy. How do you treat your
animals?
I don;'t know about you but I smell
trouble brewing for Harold's dog Muffy. Of course, Muffy wouldn't be
the first dog or animal to be treated mean. I'm sure many of us know
we have or know of someone who has at one time or another been mean
to an animal. As I think of this story I'm reminded of someone in
the Bible who had an animal he was being mean to. Let's look at
Numbers 22.
As we start our story, the people of
Israel were still wandering in the wilderness because they had
refused to go into the promise land after they had been freed from
slavery in Egypt. During this time God had been taking care of Israel
and helping them win battles along the way. Knowledge of those
victories were spreading and nations were becoming afraid.
The Moabites were one of the nations
whose fear of Israel was growing and their king Balak along with
various other leaders decided to try and stop the Israelites buy
means of a man named Balaam for they had learned that whoever Balaam
blessed was blessed and whoever he cursed was cursed and they wanted
him to curse Israel.
Now the reason Balaam was able to
bless and curse people and have the blessing or curses come true was
because he was a prophet of God and God was making things happen. So
when Ballam got the message he went and talked to God but God said NO
and Balaam sent the people away. Needless to say, Balak didn't like
the answer so he sent different people and made a great offer of
wealth.
While Balaam laid claimed that he
couldn't curse the people for a house full of silver and gold unless
God allowed him, That money must have got to him and it led to
trouble. When he asked God about going this time God said yes but
only say what I tell you but Balaam must have had other ideas for as
he went on the way only to meet an angel with a sword drawn and ready
to kill him.
Before he saw the angel his donkey
that he had been riding had and three times tried to protect Balaam's
life and three times Balaam beat him for it. Finally God had, had
enough and let two things happen, he allowed the donkey to talk to
Balaam and than opened Balaam's eyes so he could see the angel and
the sword. That got Balaam's attention. I wonder how much animals
can see that we do not.
If we go back to the beginning, to the
first chapter of Genesis we read that God created human beings in
his image. In the image of God he created them. He created them male
and female. God blessed them and said, “Have many children and grow
in number. Fill the earth and be its master. Rule over the fish in
the sea and over the birds in the sky and over every living thing
that moves on the earth.” Genesis 1:27-28 (NCV)
In those verse we learn that while God
created the animals, he left man in charge of them, to rule over them
but he didn't give us permission to be cruel to them or to worship
them. We have people today that go both directions, they're both
bad.
Proverbs 12:10 which was quoted
earlier is good reminder of how the godly should be concerned for
animals. And how those who are ungodly (wicked) have no concern. The
godly are concerned because they see the animals as part of God's
creation and if one doesn't believe in God one has no real reason to
care for with out God what self wants is really all that matters.
Here's Something To Ponder
- Do you believe God is the creator of the animals?
- How do you treat the animals you come in contact with?
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