The Ostrich and the Imagination of God

The Ostrich and the Imagination of God.

“And God said, ‘Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds soar high above the earth across the expanse of the heavens!’ So God created the great sea creatures and every living creature that moves, with which the waters swarm, according to their kinds, and every winged bird according to its kind. And God saw that it was beautiful and excellent! And God blessed them, saying, ‘Be fruitful and multiply and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth!” (Genesis 1:20).

It is abundantly clear that the Creator God has loved His fine-feathered friends from the beginning. God’s instructions to Noah included a special word for the birds… “Take seven of each kind of bird of the heavens, male and female, to keep their offspring alive on the face of the earth.” (Genesis 6:3).  And to this day, birds are the only creatures that flourish on every continent. God’s instructions to Noah revealed that birds hold a special place in God’s heart, and He wanted all of them, every kind, to flourish. The unique connection between God and birds has convinced me that, no, the birds didn’t evolve from meat-eating dinosaurs. God had special plans in mind for His birds. And it takes a greater leap of faith to think birds are evolved than to simply believe that Creator God invented them in the first place. As the psalmist proclaims in Ps. 50:7,11, “Hear O My people, and I will speak… I know by name every bird flying over the mountains, and every animal roaming over the fields is Mine, they belong to Me.”

“And Job said, Ask the animals, and they will teach you. Ask the birds, and they will tell you. Or speak with the earth, and it will teach you. Even the fish will relate the story to you. What creature doesn’t know that the Lord’s hands made it? The life of every living creature and the breath in every human body are in his hands. (Job 12: 7-10).

The Book of Job. One would have a difficult time finding a more perplexing book in Scripture than Job. It is ancient, so old that many scholars believe it is the oldest written book in the Bible, written 500-600 years before Genesis, by an unknown author. The land of Uz might as well be the land of Oz since no one knows where that land actually was. Some have speculated that Uz is actually the land of Utz, which is the ancient Moab, but no one knows for sure. Job was a Jew before Abraham, in the sense that he had a direct knowledge of God, a personal relationship with Yahweh that didn’t come from an institution or writings. The name of God is used 150 times in the book, and even the name of Yahweh was mentioned once. And yet Job was also a Gentile, since he has no knowledge of the Torah, the Temple, or Israel. In all of Job’s questioning of God, God never actually provides an answer to Job’s suffering. Job asks Why, and God seems to answer Because. All of Job’s ordeal is orchestrated by Satan, and yet Job never has a hint that Satan is even in the picture at all. Job’s plight is to live into the mystery of suffering in the dark.

The Faith of Job. It’s impressive that Job maintained his innocence through all the pain and suffering. He believed that this ordeal was not of his making, that he had already confessed to God whatever needed to be confessed in the past. Job tells his friends that his suffering is not his fault. Through it all, Job continued to trust in God’s basic mercy and goodness. Job trusted that God was ultimately responsible for everything in this world, and that God must have a good reason for this plight of his. If only God would tell him what those reasons are! Job’s ultimate hope was in God, even if God was pulling all the strings in this misery. Job never yielded to the temptation to curse God and die, even during all those moments of dark despair, depression, and his moody mental states. Job’s faith is so strong that, despite his misery, he boldly declares, “Though He slay me, yet will I hope in Him.” (13:15).

A Silent God. The disturbing thing in the book of Job is, until the big theophany at the end, God kept Job in the dark during most of his suffering. Job cried out to God, but for the most part God didn’t answer. Ellen Davis offers this piece of insight in her book Getting involved with God… “What goads and guides Job through his pain is simply the determination not to let God off the hook for a moment. Eventually, Job’s determination to hold God accountable to Himself becomes his hope of redemption.”

“And now, finally, Lord Yahweh answered Job from the very heart of a raging whirlwind. He said, ‘Why do you confuse the issue by questioning my wisdom, by darkening my counsel with words without knowledge? Why do you talk, Job, without knowing what you are saying? Pull yourself together and brace yourself like a man, Job! I have some questions for you, and want some straight answers from you! Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much! Who decided its size, and who came up with the blueprints and measurements? Certainly you’ll know that! And what supports its footings, who laid the cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy.” (Job 38:1-7; refer to Job 38-39 for God’s first round of rhetorical questions for Job).

Look at the Ostrich! “And God declared to Job… ‘The ostrich claps her wings in futility, in joyful abandon! She has all those beautiful feathers, but they are useless! She lays her eggs on the cold and dusty ground, letting them be warmed by the sun, but then promptly forgets them, carelessly exposing them to what might crush them or a wild animal that could trample them. The ostrich treats its chicks heartlessly, and is negligent with her young, as if they weren’t even hers. Even if her labor is in vain, she cares nothing about practically anything. When God created the ostrich, He deprived her of wisdom and common sense, and it wasn’t given a fair share of understanding. But on the other hand, when the time comes for her to flap her wings and run, she can look back at the horse and rider and laugh in scorn, laughing as she leaves them in the dust!” (Job 39:13-16).

Divine Creativity. The sheer imagination of Creator God is astounding. Only a divine imagination could have cooked up such absurd and hilarious creatures as the ostrich, the giraffe, the duck-billed platypus, the octopus, the anteater, the howling monkey, the armadillo, the kangaroo, the elephant, and the list goes on. In chapters 38-39 of Job, God presents His case before Job as to why He is God and Job isn’t. God is evidently savoring this moment of displaying some of the wonders of His creation, and the power and creativity that is obvious because of His handiwork. God proudly points to the beauty of the soaring hawk as well as the built-in servanthood of the wild ox. In one breath God alerts Job to both His mountain goats and the humble donkey. And God made sure Job didn’t forget the majestic eagle with her fortress-nest in the sky and her clairvoyant eyesight that can spot something far, far away.

The Ostrich?  And right in the middle of this revelation, with God revealing His beauteous and mind-boggling creation, He talks about the undignified and apparently hapless ostrich. Perhaps God wanted Job to crack a smile in the midst of his suffering, making the ostrich the centerpiece of His parade of animals in chapter 39. Maybe God wanted to show Job that He had a sense of humor in His creative efforts. Anyway, God is so proud of His creature that has wings but can’t fly, and lays eggs but doesn’t even bother to care for them! I made this laughable and goofy creature, says Creator God, it was designed personally and was hand-made by Me! I love the ostrich, I declared it to be good when I first created it, says God, so I’ll take full responsibility for it. Yes, God could have brought to Job’s attention any number of spectacular and uniquely beautiful creatures. But He put the ungainly ostrich right in the middle of His revelation. God is saying, perhaps, that we don’t appreciate some parts of the animal kingdom because they aren’t so gorgeous. But have you ever seen the ostrich run, asks God? I have given him the ability to run, and nothing beats My ostrich! So don’t forget that, when you are tempted to look down on this rather unimpressive creature of Mine.

Fun Facts about the Ostrich.

1. Feathers. Their beautiful feathers have been prized ever since they were discovered by mankind long ago. The long, elegant, white plumage of their wings have been especially prized by royalty and the wealthy, and has always been an impressive fashion statement to those who could afford them.
2. Strong Legs. They may not be able to fly, but their ability to run is astounding. Ostriches can reach speeds of 40 mph and can maintain that speed for long periods of the day. One ostrich has been clocked at 60 mph! The only creature that can run that fast is the cheetah, but the cheetahs can only keep up that speed for a few seconds at a time.
3. Self-Defense. Those strong legs can also be put to use in self-defense. If assaulted, the ostrich is able to kick with such force that they have been known to kill a lion with one devastating kick. Not only that, but the legs of the ostrich enable it to jump over a fence that is 5 feet tall, have strides over 15 feet in length when on the run, and they can use their legs to swim in any river it finds. One of the comedic aspects of the ostrich, which confirms what God was saying about ostriches being rather stupid, is that after a long run, and the ostrich is exhausted and in need of shelter, it hides its head under its wings, thinking they will thus be invisible to predators. Hiding their heads in the sand may be a legend, but hiding its head under its wings is quite true.
4. Eggs. Yes, the parenting instincts of the ostrich leave much to be desired, as the parents leave them out in an open, shallow nest in the dust of the ground. Because of this, they were a biblical symbol of heartlessness… “the daughters of my people have become as cruel as ostriches in the desert.” (Lam. 4:3). They do indeed forget about them and expose them to predators and weather conditions. But, the ostrich mother can lay as many as 100 eggs in a year, and have a life span of up to 40 years, so even though only 15% of the eggs survive this treatment, there are so many eggs produced that the survival of the ostrich species is assured. Their eggs are the largest of any bird, weighing in at three or more pounds each, and are considered delicacies by predators and humans alike. The yoke of one ostrich egg is equal to the yoke of 24 chicken eggs. Many museums proudly display ostrich eggs as a natural phenomenon.
5. Size. The ostrich is the largest living bird on planet earth. They can weigh up to 300 pounds, and average about 6 feet tall. Some ostriches have been discovered that were 10 feet tall. With this much girth, the size of their wings are not up to the task of flying, even though they have the largest wingspan of all the birds. Instead of flying, the ostrich wings are used to cover their featherless legs on cold nights.
6. Unclean. It’s true that the ostrich made Yahweh’s list of unclean animals that were deplorable, an abomination, and not to be in the diet of his chosen people. (Leviticus 11). In the ostrich’s case, they were indeed a predator and ate carcasses if they found them. But the ostrich is known to eat anything it finds, and have this bizarre diet of ingesting anything available, everything that crosses their path, whether it is edible or not. The Hebrew word for ostrich is “ya-anah,” which means “greediness.” The ostrich was observed to be a glutton, a greedy eater. Because of their indiscriminate eating habits, they were acknowledged as birds that could easily pick up any and every disease imaginable, and therefore its meat was considered unhealthy to eat. Those who encourage us to eat ostrich meat now are those who have a carefully managed ostrich farm that assures a healthy diet for these careless eaters.
7. Desolation. The hearty ostrich has long ago adapted to the dry, hot desert climate, and are completely comfortable living in wastelands, places that were uninhabited. In biblical times as now, ostriches were associated with barrenness and desolation. “Wildcats and jackals will live there, and ostriches will settle there. It will never again be peopled, it will be uninhabited age after age.” (Jer. 50:39). Job even lamented that he is stuck in a place of desolation and abandonment when he cried out, “I go about in sunless gloom, I rise in the assembly and cry for help. I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.” (Job 30:29). Ostriches generally are now alive and well in the desert conditions of Africa.

Job’s Response to God. After Yahweh’s barrage of rhetorical, unanswerable questions, Job was suitably humbled, to say the least. “Job replied to the Lord God, ‘I am speechless, Lord, in awe. Words fail me. I should never have opened my mouth in the first place. How could I ever even begin to find the answers to Your questions! I have nothing more to say, I have said too much already. I am ready to listen.’ Then the Lord challenges Job once again from this divine whirlwind, saying to him, ‘I have more questions for you, so stand tall and tell me the answers.’” (Job 40:3-7). The Lord God was not letting up. He wanted to make sure He got his point across to Job.

God’s Answer. At the end of the book, God didn’t give the answers Job had been looking for. God appeared, and His presence was the answer. God Himself is the answer to all the Why questions. God offered His splendor and majesty and creative power, and even His sense of humor, and Job could only respond with awe. ”I am unworthy. I put my hand over my mouth.” (40:3). Job silently confirmed his earlier thoughts that we are only on the “outer fringes of your works. How faint the whisper we hear of Him.” (26:7,14). Job is wise enough to know that he is merely standing on the border of His ways. When all was said and done after God and Job finally interacted, God accepted Job, and Job grew in his knowledge of the unfathomable God.