God Knows

This is a little off the beaten path for my typical blogging pursuits, but I think it also ties right in to something that I do try to concentrate on, and that is God's unmistakable sovereignty over the little things.

One of my family lost a pet this week - one that he'd had for many years. It was NOT a small deal. Really, it's the kind of thing you share with only people you know very closely, because some people just don't understand the kind of attachment you can have with an animal. When the time comes - and it always seems to - we lose what feels like a part of us. Now, what could scripture have to say that might possibly provide comfort amidst a loss like that? Did Paul say, "The dead in Christ shall rise, then we who are alive and remain, along with our pets, in the twinkling of an eye..." No. He didn't.

What about Moses? Did he talk about what we can do if we grow attached to a pet and then we see it die of a disease, or get run over, or killed by an angry neighbor, or just waste away with age? No, I don't think he mentioned anything either. So... does God know 'that' kind of pain?

My bud who has felt this recent loss pointed something out to me that I find fascinating.

2Sa 12:1-6
(1) And Jehovah sent Nathan to David. And he came to him and said to him, There were two men in one city, the one rich, and the other poor.
(2) The rich one had flocks and very many herds.
(3) But the poor one had nothing except one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished. And it grew up with him, and with his sons together, and it ate of his morsel, and it drank from his cup, and it lay in his bosom. And it was like a daughter to him.
(4) And a traveler came to the rich one, and he spared to take of his own flock, and of his own herd, to prepare for the traveler who had come to him. And he took the ewe lamb of the poor man, and prepared it for the man who had come to him.
(5) And David's anger glowed greatly against the man. And he said to Nathan, As Jehovah lives, surely the man who did this is a son of death.
(6) And he shall repay fourfold for the ewe lamb, because he has done this thing, and because he had no pity.

If you wish to know the rest of the story, read it. It's a great story. But the signature of God is on this story, too. Nathan the prophet relayed this story to David from God Himself, who very clearly states that a man can grow so attached to an animal as to think of it as family. What that means is, God understands. God sees. Why was David angry? Because David saw, too. David had compassion (even though he was being indicted). This loss is not foreign to God. He gets it.

I'd go on to add... it would behoove us all to see this type of loss through the eyes of God. If He sees it as a horrible thing, we had best be in agreement and not make light of someone's deep hurt. Death is an enemy and it was one of the first things Jesus overcame in His claiming of eternal cosmic victory. Now we simply wait for our Redeemer to take ownership, physically, of His claim, making death a thing of the past. Even so, come Lord Jesus.