The Dog Knows
“And you will seek Me and find Me, when you search for Me with all your heart.” [Jeremiah 29:13]
The incredible sense of smell in a dog boggles the mind. Did you know that from a single drop of urine from an animal, a dog is able to determine its diet, health, sex, mental state, and whether it is friendly, dominant, or submissive? In fact, a dog’s ability to pick up smell is so powerful that it can detect extremely diluted odors that not even the most sophisticated scientific instruments can measure. It can even discriminate different odors, making it impossible to cover up one odor with another. A dog can tell the difference.
God gave dogs an amazing sense of smell. The average dog has about 200 million scent receptors in its nose. (Humans have about 5 million scent receptors). A dog also has about seven square meters of nasal membranes. (Humans have about half of a square meter.) When you walk into a room and say, “Something stinks in here,” imagine what a dog would say! One dog expert explained that dogs see a 3-D image of odors in a much more detailed way than what people see with their eyes. A dog’s world is all about smell. That’s why they love the smell of their favorite blanket (or your favorite coat or sweater!). If a dog is hanging his nose out the window while you drive around town, he will know when you turn down your street because of the smell in the air.
Some dogs are professionally trained to use their nose to find substances like explosives, illegal drugs, or blood. Different from hunting dogs that search for game, or search dogs that search for missing people, detection dogs are often used to pick up specific items. In California, dogs have been trained to detect the quagga mussel on boats, since it is an invasive species. Some springer spaniels have been trained to detect bumblebee nests. And some have even been trained to find illegal cell phones in prison cells. So, if you need to find bed bugs, money, firearms, mold, or even termites, hire a dog!
The Bible says 50 men searched for three days to find Elijah when he went to heaven. They couldn’t find him. Neither could Ahab find Elijah during the time of no rain. When Obadiah finally found him, he told Elijah, “There is no nation or kingdom where my master has not sent someone to hunt for you…” (1.Kings 18:10). But God always knows where we are. He can sniff us out anywhere!
But have you searched for God yourself?
