Ostrich Insight by Dr. Lisa Burkhardt Worley
When I was a child, I used to draw ostriches when doodling. I don’t know why, but I drew ostriches all the time, and in art class, I even built an ostrich with toothpicks. This week in Bible study, the ostrich came up more than once, so I dug deeper into what the ostrich represents spiritually.
In Job 39, the LORD is reminding Job about the magnificent world that He created when he describes the ostrich:
The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot comparewith the wings and feathers of the stork. She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,
unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense. Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider (Job 39:13-18, NIV).
What does this mean?
Some of us began as an ostrich egg.
Because of difficult circumstances at birth, it is by the grace of God, and because others stepped in to protect us, that we made it to adulthood. Some, but not all, ostrich eggs survive.
As I drew my ostriches, was the LORD sending a subliminal message? Perhaps He wanted me to know that He saved me for a purpose and a calling, just as he saved you from any childhood dysfunction.
The LORD uses the DNA of our parents and ancestors to model a unique creation. Psalm 139:13 says, “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.” Before we were born, He designed our personalities, the way we look, and established our strengths and weaknesses. He also stepped in as a protector, guarding us as infants when we couldn’t take care of ourselves.
But ostriches aren’t all bad. In some ways, I would like to be more like this feathery creature, care-free and joyous, knowing that the LORD had my life in His hands from the very beginning.
#