Having, Losing, and Regaining Pets, Part 1

This will be a most unusual meditation for me. I broach a subject that I do not recall ever dealing with extensively. My thoughts on this have been stirred because two souls under my pastoral care recently lost a beloved pet. One lost a dog had from childhood and another lost a cat. Both of these people were very grieved over their loss. This set me to thinking about what the Scriptures have to say about animals, particularly about animals that people make pets of. I think that at some point in my ministry I should speak to this subject, especially since the Bible has some things to say about it.

I will say at the outset that I am not a great animal lover. Growing up we did have some pets, but I do not recall ever grieving that much when we lost them. I had a parakeet - a budgie if you are Canadian - that lived about eight years. I got him for a birthday present when I was ten years old. He was a sweet little bird. I named him Pretty Boy. I regret that in later years I was not as attentive to him as I should have been. I just got busy with other things. Currently, my wife and I have no pets and we intend to keep it that way. My two oldest daughters had no great interest in pets and that was fine with us. However, my third daughter loves animals and wanted pets. But we only allowed birds, no cats or dogs! My daughter had one pet, a gray parakeet that I developed a fondness for. He was a birthday present to her. I recall going to the pet store with her to purchase a bird. This little bird was in a large cage with other parakeets. While we were looking over the selection, our little bird attached himself to the side of the cage and let me stroke his breast. When I pointed this out to my daughter, she fell for him and he became a new member of our household. His name was Sugarbaby. He loved me. When we let him out of the cage to fly about the house, he would fly to me when I walked through the room. He learned to say some things. Joan Evennou kept him for us one time and said that he laughed like me. Poor creature! Then one day he got out of the house and flew away. This happened while my daughter was at school. One of the most painful things I ever had to do was to tell my daughter that her little bird was gone. She was devastated. I can still see my baby girl wandering about the yard crying and calling out for her little bird that never came back. I remember seeing her that evening on her knees sobbing her heart out to God and remembering how happy her little bird had been. The memory of this pains me to this day. I hope I have not wearied you with this sojourn down memory lane. I just want you to know that I know something of the sorrow of losing beloved pets.

Let’s begin by defining the word pet.

Any animal that is domesticated or tamed and kept as a favourite, or treated with indulgence and fondness.

Although the word pet is not found in the Bible, pets are found, as we shall see.

Now the word animal does not occur in the A.V. 1611. In the Bible animals are called beasts, fowl, or creeping things. The general word covering all animals would be beast.

In the beginning of creation, before man’s fall into sin, none of the animals were hostile. There was no death and destruction such as came after sin entered into the world. Before the fall, no beast posed a threat to man. But with the fall man’s environment, the beasts included, became hostile.

In the beginning, all the beasts were vegetarian.

Genesis 1:30 And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

But with the fall some of the beasts became carnivores and would even kill men. Hence these words to Noah after the flood:

Genesis 9:5 And surely your blood of your lives will I require; at the hand of every beast will I require it, and at the hand of man; at the hand of every man's brother will I require the life of man.

Now a man must tame a beast if he would make a pet of him. Consider the definition of tame and a Bible verse that uses the word when speaking of beasts.

Tame – To bring (a wild animal) under the control or into the service of man; to reclaim from the wild state, to domesticate.

James 3:7 For every kind of beasts, and of birds, and of serpents, and of things in the sea, is tamed, and hath been tamed of mankind:

Scripture teaches the owner of an animal to have regard for it and its needs.

Proverbs 12:10 A righteous man regardeth the life of his beast: but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel.

Deuteronomy 25:4 Thou shalt not muzzle the ox when he treadeth out the corn.

So if you are going to own an animal, you should take care of it. While God allows us to kill beasts for food, God does not want us to be cruel to them.

When someone owns an animal and cares for it, he often develops affection for the animal and the animal for him. Thus the animal becomes a pet. Pets have a way of becoming part of the family. There is a tender story about this in the Bible.

2 Samuel 12:1 And the LORD sent Nathan unto David. And he came unto him, and said unto him, There were two men in one city; the one rich, and the other poor.
2 The rich man had exceeding many flocks and herds:
3 But the poor man had nothing, save one little ewe lamb, which he had bought and nourished up: and it grew up together with him, and with his children; it did eat of his own meat, and drank of his own cup, and lay in his bosom, and was unto him as a daughter.

I am sure some of you that own or have owned pets can relate to this story. This little lamb was “unto him as a daughter.” She became part of the family. She was a pet by definition. A pet like this little ewe lamb is something to bestow affection upon and to return affection. It has been observed that owning a pet can be therapeutic for elderly people suffering from loneliness. It gives them something to love and care for. It is a living being that can respond to the attention of its owner. A pet can be something to play with, something that brings joy. The book of Job mentions playing with a bird (Job 41:5). I know something about that. Indeed, pets can be a blessing of God. But when a pet is loved and cared for in the manner I am describing, the loss of it can be very grievous. But I will address that in another meditation, God willing.