Question from a reader:
I have been having a VERY hard time with sorrow this week. I’m a Christian and am having such great difficulty with the suffering and death of animals everywhere. I can’t find peace. I have prayed for understanding and peace. I have begun to realize it is the curse of sin. How do I stop the pain and find peace?
Answer from Randy Alcorn:
You are very right about the extent of devastation brought on the entire earth due to the curse. The amount of pain in the world is terrifying, but that pain is bearable when we remember God's ultimate plan for redemption and restoration. Our world is moving toward a day when there will be New Heavens and a New Earth where things will be right and such pain will be gone.
This present suffering, of all types and as terrible as it is, is fleeting while the hope of peace we look forward to is eternal!
Below are a few links that I hope will be helpful, encouraging, and biblically informative regarding God's love for animals.
- http://www.epm.org/resources/2011/Apr/30/q-it-wrong-grieve-loss-our-pets-video/
- http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Feb/3/will-there-be-animals-heaven/
- http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/May/20/why-did-god-save-animals-flood-audio/
- http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/May/20/why-was-meat-first-given-people-eat-audio/
- http://www.epm.org/resources/2010/Jan/18/are-animals-capable-praising-god/
- http://www.epm.org/static/uploads/downloads/12_Chapter_39.pdf
Here are some great passages to meditate on and bring you comfort:
Revelation 21:3-6 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!” Then he said, “Write this down, for these words are trustworthy and true.”
He said to me: “It is done. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the End. To the thirsty I will give water without cost from the spring of the water of life.
Isaiah 25:8 he will swallow up death forever. The Sovereign LORD will wipe away the tears from all faces; he will remove the disgrace of his people from all the earth. The LORD has spoken.
Isaiah 35:10 and the ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 51:11 The ransomed of the LORD will return. They will enter Zion with singing; everlasting joy will crown their heads. Gladness and joy will overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away.
Isaiah 60:20 Your sun will never set again, and your moon will wane no more; the LORD will be your everlasting light, and your days of sorrow will end.
Isaiah 65:19 I will rejoice over Jerusalem and take delight in my people; the sound of weeping and of crying will be heard in it no more.
Jeremiah 31:12 They will come and shout for joy on the heights of Zion; they will rejoice in the bounty of the LORD--the grain, the new wine and the oil, the young of the flocks and herds. They will be like a well-watered garden, and they will sorrow no more.
1 Corinthians 15:26 The last enemy to be destroyed is death.
1 Corinthians 15:57 But thanks be to God! He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.
Revelation 7:17 For the Lamb at the center of the throne will be their shepherd; he will lead them to springs of living water. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes."
May you experience God’s grace and comfort.
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