It touches the heart to see any creature in pain, and I do not wonder that you cry out to the Lord for mercy upon your suffering dog. The brute creation shares in the groaning of this fallen world, and it is no sin to bring their distress before the throne of grace. Yet while we may ask the Almighty, who opens His hand and satisfies the desire of every living thing, to grant healing to this animal if it be His will, we must never forget that the far greater affliction is the sickness of the soul. This trial, like every other, is a voice calling you to examine your own standing before God. For if you feel such anguish over a perishing creature, what ought to be your concern for your own never-dying spirit, and for the souls of your fellow men?
The one remedy for sin-sick sinners is the Word of God, even Jesus Christ, whom the Father has sent to heal all who come unto Him. When your heart is breaking over your pet, let it drive you to Him who alone can bind up the broken-hearted and give rest to your soul. Cry out with the poor woman of Canaan, "Lord, help me!" It is a prayer that fits every hour of need, in the watches of the night when sleep departs, in the weariness of watching a creature you love decline, in the bitterness of loss should the Lord take it away. This prayer, breathed from a true heart, opens the door of mercy. But see that you do not rest there; let the Spirit lead you to a deeper cry: "Lord, heal my soul, for I have sinned against Thee."
We very speedily care for bodily diseases, for they are too painful to let us slumber in silence. Yet how trifling is the suffering of a beast compared to the eternal torment of an unforgiven soul! I beseech you, while you plead for your dog, plead all the more for yourself and for those around you, that you may not be found at last without the healing balm of Christ’s blood. This sickness of your dog is a test, a trial sent for God’s glory and for your awakening. Will you not hear the rod and Him who has appointed it? Turn to the Lord with earnest prayer, not merely for temporary relief, but for that reviving of the inner man which alone enables us to say, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted.”
May the Lord, in His infinite compassion, look upon your distress and grant such deliverance as seemeth best to Him. And may He, above all, cause you to seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, so that whether in health or sickness, life or death, you may be found in Christ, healed forevermore. Amen.