Faith Like a Dog: What if We Relied on God Like Dogs Rely on Us?

By Tom Saunders

What is faith? What does true faith look like? Many people profess to have faith in God. It’s true that faith comes much easier to some people than it does for others. But what does genuine faith truly look like? The Bible tells us that faith means putting our full confidence in the things we hope for, it means being certain of things we cannot see. Is that even possible?

That’s the kind of faith God wants us to have in Him. He wants us to trust our entire existence to Him. Every need, every want, every desire, He wants us to trust that He will provide for us. He doesn’t say He will give us whatever we ask for; He says He will provide for our needs and look after those who trust in Him.

Can we really trust God for our every need? It’s hard to imagine what that type of faith might look like to most of us, but many of us have perfect examples of that type of faith living in our homes—our pets, more specifically our dogs!

Obviously, our children rely on us to provide for them, but as they grow, they become less dependent on us as parents. Dogs, however, are completely dependent on us from the time we bring them home to the day they die…they count on us to provide for their every need.

They must have complete faith in us to provide for them no matter what they need from food to hygiene to companionship and love; they have—must have—complete faith and trust that we will provide for them, that we won’t let them down. That’s the kind of faith God wants us to have in Him.

Isn’t that what true faith looks like? If we claim to be believers, isn’t that what our faith in God should look like? Shouldn’t we have complete faith that God will meet our every need no matter how big or how small? Faith that demonstrates an unwavering trust that God will never let us down…shouldn’t we have faith like a dog?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Covenant Books, Inc.
• Release date: Jun 24, 2022
• ISBN: 9781685264048

Book preview

Chapter 1

Faithfulness

And it is impossible to please God without faith. Anyone who wants to come to Him must believe that God exists and that He rewards those who sincerely seek Him. (Hebrews 11:6)

Think about something

Can it be that simple? Just believe God exists… Yes! That’s what faith is! Dogs are arguably the most faithful and loyal creatures on the planet. Regardless of how people treat them, they still remain faithful even when treated badly. What if we had the kind of faith in God that our dogs have in us… The amazing thing is that God never treats us bad or lets us down in any way, so why is it so hard to believe…so hard to have faith…so hard to trust in God? That’s what I want to explore. If we had the kind of faith in God that dogs have in us, I think our lives, and the world we live in, would be very different, as would the lives of everyone we came in contact with. What if we all had faith like a dog?

It’s been said…

What if we responded to God, and each other, the way dogs respond to us? Dog’s completely trust us for everything, they just want to be close to us, they’re happy knowing we are near, and they’re filled with joy to be in our presence. Shouldn’t believers always feel the same way about our Father in heaven?

It’s been said, pointed out I should say, mostly by dog lovers I’m sure, that dog is God spelled backward. Some may find this demeaning and disrespectful to God, but I would like to respectfully disagree with that point of view. Let me put it out there right now just to make it clear. I do have a dog, she’s a Bernese Mountain Dog, and she is, by far, the best dog I ever had the pleasure to care for, and it’s been my pleasure to have many of these four-legged critters over the years. That being said, I’m also a pastor and would never want to belittle the Father in any way. So now that all the disclaimers are out of the way, I would like to explore Faith Like a Dog.

It’s impossible to please God without faith…

The Amplified Bible tells us in Hebrews 11:6, But without faith it is impossible to [walk with God and] please Him, for whoever comes [near] to God must [necessarily] believe that God exists and that He rewards those who [earnestly and diligently] seek Him.

What is faith? A definition…

One online definition of faith is, "Faith is complete confidence or trust in a person or thing, or a belief not based on proof. It may also refer to a particular system of religious belief." It sums up pretty much every definition of faith you can find. Even though it may refer to a particular belief system, I want to focus on the first and second parts of the definition as they pertain to the point I’m trying to make in this book. I’ll also look at the rest of the definition as well. The Bible’s definition of faith is found in Hebrews 11:1, the Amplified version says, Now faith is the assurance (title deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen [the conviction of their reality—faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses].

Everyday faith

First, faith is complete confidence in a person or thing…think about how much faith we put in everyday people and things as we go about our personal and professional lives every day. Every time we obey a traffic light, we have faith that others will do the same. We are putting our trust in both people (other drivers) and things (the traffic light). These are certainly things we can see, but can they be trusted 100 percent of the time? If that were the case, we would never have traffic accidents because of technical (lights) or mental (people) failures. There are numerous examples I could make, but there’s no need to belabor the point.

The second part of the definition is belief in something not based on proof. This is a little tougher to find an example for without jumping right into religious beliefs. The best example I can think of here is comparing this to a theory. Dictionary.com defines theory as "a proposed explanation whose status is still conjectural and subject to experimentation, in contrast to well-established propositions that are regarded as reporting matters of actual fact."

The final part of the definition can include all of the above…you don’t have to be a rocket scientist to understand how the first two parts of the definition apply to religious beliefs, but I want to keep this incredibly simple and not get into the weeds with some deep theological discussion or doctrinal bantering. When it comes to faith, what if, our relationship with God was like the relationship we have with our dog.

Complete faith

Dogs have complete faith in their owners; they have to; they have no choice; they rely on us for everything! They count on their masters (a dog term from the movie Up) for sustenance (food and water), for shelter, for opening the door so they can go outside to do all the things dogs do outside, for taking care of them when they are sick or hurt, and most of all for loving them. If we don’t provide all these things, they are left to fend for themselves, and their life becomes exponentially more difficult. Can they survive? Yes, but with much more stress, uncertainty, and pain to say the least, and even if