The Common Grace of Pets
How Peculiar Little Creatures Are Given to Us for God's Glory and Our Good
Genesis 1:24–25
[24] And God said, “Let the earth bring forth living creatures according to their kinds—livestock and creeping things and beasts of the earth according to their kinds.” And it was so. [25] And God made the beasts of the earth according to their kinds and the livestock according to their kinds, and everything that creeps on the ground according to its kind. And God saw that it was good. (ESV)
The Bible doesn’t have much to say about pets per se. They are part of God’s creation and therefore, good. Our translation of God seeing the results of his handiwork and declaring it good may seem understated a bit. It’s more than just good. It’s a wonder. His work is designed to aim our hearts at Him. All the earth testifies to the reality that it, and everything in it, has been made by God. And he gives it to us to care for, to steward, to be sub-regents over God’s good creation. Our mission was to make the earth like the Garden, a temple without compare, and fill it with worshipers who glorify God.
Part of our sub-rule, is dominion over animals. We hear the word dominion, and perhaps think of iron rule, but authority in the Bible is meant to serve, bless, and encourage any under that authority. Think of Christ, who had all authority inherent in his divinity, and used it to put on humanity and come rescue us.
Animals are under are authority and pets are one small way that plays out. We take in these little furry creatures and provide for them, care for them, and enjoy them. And it might seem a touch silly to think about the theological significance of pets, but they aren’t here by accident. Every nook and cranny of creation is under God’s providence. Part of his plan is for animals to be domesticated, and even come into our homes. This is a common grace. The Lord gives this to all humanity. Pets are one of the small but significant ways God demonstrates his love for us. He didn’t have to do it, but he did, knowing we’d delight in his creatures.
And I wonder why. But upon saying goodbye to Hemingway, our cat of roughly 16 years, I didn’t have to wonder long. Each morning as I rose, I had to feed him, give him medicine, and pet him. Even before I was married or had kids, I was learning to have concern for something other than myself. As I grew in faith, I regularly sat in wonder at this cat, this cat I rescued off the streets of Washington, D.C, and who routinely tried to run away, who also would hop on my shoulder and lay there for as long as he could. I would read my Bible in the mornings and write in my journal, and he’d hop up and step his paws over any and everything I was paying attention to. Because he genuinely had affection for me. That was God’s gift to me. A small gift perhaps, but one I treasured. Quiet moments reflecting a bond between a cat and a human. God made Hemingway. He crafted his tail, his whiskers, his tolerance for loud children, his disinterest in humans who weren’t me, his desire to cuddle, and his incessant meowing for food. And he made him to shape me in small, subtle, but meaningful ways.
Once he got lost for three days and I searched high and low for him. On the verge of giving up, I called his name, and heard his telltale cry and saw him jogging towards me out of the woods, nearly a pound lighter. The joy I felt upon finding him is the tiniest, most incomplete, but still real taste of the joy the Lord feels in sinners returning to him
And he made him for my family. My eldest daughter learned the beginnings of responsibility by helping to feed him. My son learned to be gentle or else the cat wouldn’t go near him. And most painfully, my children learned that death comes for all living things. They began to have a dawning awareness of the price of sin entering the world and fracturing it.
God made Hemingway for the Brophy family’s good and His own glory. How? By pushing us towards considering how good God is to make him for us to enjoy. By giving us the tiniest lessons in sanctification. By creating opportunity to lament faithfully together.
We will miss Hemingway. But more, we give thanks to God for Hemingway.