Your earnest and desperate cries have been heard, and we have brought them with you before the throne of grace. To see a creature given into your care suffer so, and to feel that all that human skill can do has been tried and has failed, is a sore trial, and it has driven you to the right place, for prayer is the forerunner of mercy and often our prayers are the very shadows of mercy coming.
We do not forget that the Lord is slow to anger and plenteous in mercy, and that there is great tenderness in all His provisions. His mercy is gratis. He never sells, He always gives. He acts not because of any merit in us, but because He will have mercy on whom He will have mercy. You have done well to plead that mercy for your cat , and to ask for wisdom and guidance for yourself. We join you in that prayer, that the God whose tender mercies are over all His works would look upon this suffering creature with compassion, and if it be His will, alleviate her distress of stomach and bowel, and ease the burden of her other infirmities. We ask that He would give you, who watches over her, a calm and clear mind to do what is kindest and wisest, and to know the path of true mercy in caring for her.
Yet we would also point you, as we must, to the greater mercy which our texts speak of. All the nations are sick, and the whole head of human nature is sick and the whole heart faint, and the leaves of the tree of life were for the healing of the nations. There is an abundance of healing power in Jesus Christ. Not only His fruit, but even the leaves, the least things about Christ, are full of healing virtue for the sin sick soul. The fitness for being healed is to be sick, and the fitness for being pardoned is to be a sinner. The Great Messenger of the Covenant, the great Interpreter between God and man, can tell you of God's mercy not in words only, but with a sweet sense of mercy shed abroad in the heart. He can make the way of salvation not only known but felt and rejoiced in.
So while we pray for tender mercy upon your dear cat, we pray still more that you may know that mercy in your own soul through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ alone, for there is no other name under heaven given among men whereby we must be saved. It is when we are brought low and feel our own need that God often begins His distinct and definite purposes of mercy toward us. He sometimes brings us low by affliction and sorrow that we may look away from all other confidences and trust only in His free grace.
Be encouraged that God hears the cries of His people. He has often given unsolicited favors, but great prayer has always been the great prelude of great mercy. He invites you to come boldly to the gracious King whose scepter mercy gives. Cast your burden upon Him, for He cares for you, and leave both yourself and your beloved creature in His wise and tender hands, trusting that whether He grants healing or calls for endurance, His mercy still goes before you and will not fail.
We pray with you now, in the name of Jesus our only hope, that the Lord would show mercy, grant relief according to His perfect will, grant you wisdom beyond your own, and give you peace as you wait upon Him. May He hear and answer these cries as shall be most for His glory and your good. Amen.
