The Ostrich and the Eagle
"Thine are the heavens, the earth also is thine; the world and its fullness, thou hast founded them"
The Ostrich: Job 39:13-18
In this portion our attention is called to the lack of wisdom illustrated in the ostrich; a creature with the form of a bird, but without power to leave the earth.
While other birds take refuge in flight when hard pressed, this one, it is said, buries its head in the sand. How like the mere profession of such as have the "form of godliness" but deny the power of it in their lives. Pressed as to matters of eternal judgment, they refuse to face the facts, and shield themselves by earthly things - the shifting sands of time. Such never see things from God’s point of view, but only from man’s.
As for the ostrich itself, so for its offspring: "She leaveth her eggs in the earth... without fear." Without "the fear of God," which is the "beginning of wisdom," those who refuse to own their responsibility to God as to themselves will also refuse to own it as to their young. Such build their "house upon the sand," and the storm soon to burst upon this scene will prove their "labor in vain." Such leave their offspring "in the earth" in danger of destruction by the evil walk of others who cross their path, or by the subtle doctrines of that "beast" that "goeth about seeking whom he may devour."
The Eagle: Job 39: 27-30
In this portion God calls our attention to a bird having a God given wisdom, typical of the true child of God. The eagle also has power to leave earth and see things from lofty heights - God’s point of view. "She dwelleth and abideth on the rock." The "house built upon the rock" abides. From her lofty sphere "her eyes behold afar off," and foreseeing evil, she provides against it. She herself feeds not upon carrion, but upon the "slain," the death of another affording life to her and her offspring. In that separated place her young are made to know the value of the blood. "Whose eateth My flesh, and drinketh My blood," said our Lord, "hath eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day" (Jn. 6:54).
Those who value the One who was slain and who shed His blood for them dwell and abide on the Rock upon which He is building His assembly; those who by His grace live a holy life, walking in His footsteps in separation from the influence of the world in all its forms, whether religious, political, or moral: they are renewing their strength like the eagle. They are the ones who will share in his rule when he comes to reign as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.
