There is something special about the way our dogs and cats react to us being around them. When we come home, they are always so happy to see us. They enjoy our presence as much as we enjoy theirs. But if they’re ashamed of something they did, then they cower when they come to us. For they are afraid of what we will do to them after we figure out what they did wrong. Much like we are afraid to come to God after we sin. We are afraid to come to Him about our sins because we think He will be angry at us. He isn’t merrily angry, but He is disappointed at us for sinning.

The same holds true with the relationship Adam and Eve had with God while they were in the Garden of Eden. They became afraid of God as well.  Genesis 3: Now the serpent was craftier than any of the wild animals the Lord God had made. He said to the woman, “Did God really say, “You must not eat from any tree in the garden”? 2 The woman said to the serpent, “We may eat fruit from the trees in the garden, 3 but God did say, “You must not eat fruit from the tree that is in the middle of the garden, and you must not touch it, or you will die.” “You will not certainly die,” the serpent said to the woman. 5 “For God knows that when you eat from it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.” When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it. She also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. 7 Then the eyes of both were opened, and they realized they were naked; so, they sewed fig leaves together and made coverings for themselves. 8 Then the man and his wife heard the sound of the Lord God as he was walking in the garden in the cool of the day, and they hid from the Lord God among the trees of the garden. 9 But the Lord God called to the man, “Where are you?” He answered, “I heard you in the garden, and I was afraid because I was naked; so, I hid.” And he said, “Who told you that you were naked? Have you eaten from the tree that I commanded you not to eat from?” 12 The man said, “The woman you put here with me. She gave me some fruit from the tree, and I ate it.” Then the Lord God said to the woman, “What is this you have done?” The woman said, “The serpent deceived me, and I ate.”

God gave us animals for our enjoyment as well. We keep them as pets and take care of them and they take care of us.  They guard us and protect us and live us unconditionally. Animals love for us know no bounds. Kind of the same way God loves us and protects us unconditionally from harm.

Just as our dogs get upset with us for leaving them and they rebel against us, Adam and Eve rebelled against God and sinned against Him, causing trouble for all of us from that day on. Imagine how scared they must have been when they heard the sound of the Lord God walking in the Garden! It is not too often you get to read such a vivid description of God Himself walking alongside people in the flesh. We can only imagine how terrified both Adam and Eve must have been in that moment, knowing God was looking for them. They felt they had no choice but to hide from Him.

When our dog or cat or any pet makes a mess in the house, they also have that tendency to run away from us to try and avoid the consequences of what they did wrong. They are afraid that we will hate them and that we will never love them with the same feeling again, because they made a mistake. That is how we feel too with sinning. We often don’t want to even think about facing the music or facing the potential consequences for our behavior. Whether our sins were intentional or not, we still sin daily. We are in the constant need to ask for forgiveness from Him. We often feel like even though we know we need to ask for forgiveness, God won’t forgive us or hear our cries, and that He will abandon us.

Luckily for our animals, we forgive them and show them what they did wrong, as a lesson both for them and for us as to how to be better owners. The same way God lets us have forgiveness but lets us learn from our mistakes, so we don’t keep purposefully making them all the time. God grants our forgiveness through Jesus sake.

Prayer: Lord, help me to seek your face in all I do. Help me to remember not to worry about what will happen in my life because you are God and you know exactly what will happen at the right time in the right place. Thank you for the forgiveness you give me each and every day. Thank you for your unconditional love and acceptance of me. Thank you for you never ending grace and mercy.