Seeing God in His creation

For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in things that have been made. ~Rom 1:19-20

I have determined that I hate sin. Or, maybe, I hate the results of sin. I'm not sure which is more accurate. To be sure, I have my pet sins that "aren't as bad as that guy over there," but I'm not really talking about individual sins. Rather, I'm talking about the problem of sin. Sin being the rebellion of man against his Creator. It all began in Genesis 3. That first rebellion tainted the whole earth. It introduced death and disease and chaos into God's perfect order. And someone is thinking to themselves right now, "Yeah, yeah, yeah, we get it. But why is sin on your thoughts today?" I'm so glad you asked.

A couple of days ago, we had to euthanize our 2 pet dogs. They were 13 and 14 years old which, for their breeds, was already above average lifespan. They were suffering. It was so hard to watch. The one had become skin and bones and refused to eat. She had joint aches that kept her basically lying still unless she had to go out or go get food or water. But toward the end, she didn't even want to muster enough energy for any of that. She was in too much pain. The other had a problem with her hind legs. Every now and then, her entire back end would just collapse. Which wasn't so bad in itself, but our family room is in our basement. And we saw those hind legs collapse going up the stairs more and more frequently. And when they collapsed on the stairs, she would curl up as much as she could and roughly roll down the stairs. That was the painful thing. So, we decided the kindest thing we could do to these animals was to put them down. But the kind thing is not always the easy thing. Many tears were shed. It hurt more than I ever thought it would.

It hurt because these dogs showed us some things about our Creator. When we traveled away from home, they waited patiently for our return. They rejoiced when they saw us. A couple of times we left them with friends instead of having someone come to our home. And even those times they were very happy to see us come and pick them up. We could just take them to be groomed, but they were excited to see us when we came to get them. They demonstrated an unconditional love for us that is hard to find among humans. And I truly believe they gave us a glimpse of God's love for us (See Rom 1:19-20). They were a part of the creation that truly touched our hearts.

When our family went through some very difficult times, these two animals would nuzzle our hands as if to say, "Don't worry. It will be okay." They provided a physical touch of the comfort we were receiving from God. Precious friends, faithful to the end. Even when we left them at the Humane Society with the red tags on the gates, they stood in the kennels, tails wagging, wondering what was going on. We knew they were in pain, and we had to leave them. And I am tearing up right now at the memory.

Which brings me back to sin. Sin introduced pain and death into this world. And I blame sin for the pain I am feeling after having to put them down. However, not only do I see God's hand in them as they "ministered" to us, in the end, I think I have a small taste of what God feels as He sees His Creation in rebellion. He knows we are marching toward our own destruction. The wages of sin is death (Rom 6:23a). And I think it breaks His heart. I think my tears at leaving my dogs to die are just a hint of what God experiences as we continue in our sinful ways.

Unlike my pets, however, God has provided a remedy for our death sentence. ...The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord (Rom 6:23b). I couldn't stop the ravages of this sin-cursed world for Candy or Lady, but God provided a way for my suffering to be stopped. He provided a solution to the sin problem. If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10:9)