By Marni Montanez
Proverbs 27:23 New Living Translation
23. Know the state of your flocks, and put your heart into caring for your herds,
As Christians, there is very little concern in the way of acknowledging animals and their welfare. Our role in this arena is virtually non-existent. We have numerous prayer groups that target human beings and a desire for cruelty to stop against humans. It is a small number of those who pray for animals on a consistent bases.
God did not put this verse in the bible just to fill the Bible up. He did so because of His great heart for animals.
God creates nothing without love and when He created animals this was part of His expression of love. To Him all that He created is good.
Genesis 1:31 New International Version
31. God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. And there was evening, and there was morning—the sixth day.
Nothing is left out regarding what God calls "good" of His creation. The animals were included in the "all". They were a good thing to God.
The Bible has many verses that point to taking care of God's animals and treating them well.
In this verse God is instructing the shepherds to be mindful of those who are under their care. God gave us the earth and called us to take care of it; this also included the animals.
God even calls those "godly", who care for His animals.. Proverbs 12:10 New Living Translation
10. The godly care for their animals, but the wicked are always cruel.
God specifically created animals because He only creates what is good. He envelopes them with His great love and compassion. He always intended for human beings to be kind, loving and compassionate toward animals.
Challenge: As Christians we are to pray for the animals on the earth. Millions are suffering from cruelty by humans right now. Get involved in taking care of animals whether it is in your home or donating or signing petitions. We need to be more involved in God's heart toward animals.
God bless
Marni
Go on to: Proverbs 29:25 Have Trust Not Fear
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The
purpose of this series is to encourage people to live as loving, compassionate,
and peacemaking children of God: Jesus tells us to pray, "Thy kingdom come, thy
will be done, on earth as it is in heaven." (Matthew 6:10) God tells us through
Micah (6:8), "He has told you, O man, what is good; And what does the Lord
require of you But to do justice, to love kindness, And to walk humbly with your
God." And we know from Revelation 21:4 that there will be no more mourning, or
crying, or pain, or death. Thus, Christian living requires us to set the
standards of these conditions here on earth for our fellow human beings, and for
the other animals, as a witness to the rest of the world. To do otherwise is not
Christian.